Social Media – Page 12 – Family Council

WSJ Report Highlights Election Misinformation on Chinese-Owned TikTok

Sep 9, 2024Jerry CoxSocial MediaSocial Media, TikTok

A recent report in The Wall Street Journal highlights election misinformation on social media.

The article discusses how social media giant TikTok let accounts linked to the Chinese government spread misleading content targeting U.S. voters ahead of the 2024 election.

TikTok boasts approximately one billion users worldwide — including 135 million or more in the U.S. — making it one of the most popular social media platforms on earth.

However, TikTok and its Chinese-based parent company ByteDance, have come under fire for serving kids a steady “diet of darkness” online and struggling to protect private user data from entities in China, such as the Chinese Communist Party.

The Wall Street Journal‘s report reveals how social media accounts posed as conservative news outlets, sharing videos that mischaracterized elected leaders like President Biden.

Even though TikTok has policies against fake accounts, the article points out that enforcement was slow, allowing misleading content to reach millions of users before being taken down.

All of this underscores the concerns many have expressed in the past about how TikTok might be used to to spread Chinese propaganda.

In 2022, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security sharing concerns about TikTok’s operations in the U.S., saying in part,

TikTok captures vast amounts of private information on users, including American citizens, and has long been suspected of providing the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] with potential access to that information. This threatens the safety and security of American citizens, and also functions as an avenue for the Chinese government to track the locations of and develop blackmail on Federal employees and contractors.

U.S. Congressman Bruce Westerman wrote in March,

Although TikTok executives claim that it does not share any data collected by the app, there are several Chinese laws in place that provide CCP [Chinese Communist Party] officials access to all user data collected by Chinese-owned tech companies, like TikTok. This means the CCP has access to sensitive data, like the location of every TikTok user worldwide, including the over 210 million Americans who have downloaded the app.

Last year Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed two lawsuits against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance.

The A.G.’s lawsuits allege that TikTok and ByteDance failed to fully disclose that the company is subject to Chinese laws that mandate cooperation with intelligence activities of the People’s Republic of China and that TikTok aggressively collects sensitive user data.

Social media platforms are more than just websites or phone apps. These are multimillion dollar businesses owned and operated by investors and other interests. If the Chinese Communist Party can influence TikTok, the CCP may be able to manipulate content and influence users on one of the world’s largest social media platform. That’s a serious concern.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

Screentime in Schools: Guest Column

Aug 6, 2024John StonestreetCurrent EventsSocial Media

More local and state governments, from both sides of the political aisle, are acknowledging the harmful effects of cellphones in schools and adopting policies to limit their use.

Last year, Florida passed a law to ban the use of cellphones in classrooms. In April, Governor Eric Holcomb of Indiana signed a bill to prohibit students from using cellphones except for learning purposes and in cases of emergencies. In June, the Los Angeles school board adopted a ban that will take effect at the beginning of next year. Some school districts have issued similar policies, and many others are at least having the debate.

These policies are long overdue. Smartphones are not only distracting, but they also affect brain development. According to one long-term study published in January 2023, adolescents who check their phones regularly for notifications experience change in “how their brains respond to the world around them.” Among other things, they tend to be hypersensitive to peers’ reactions and engage in compulsive social media activity.

In 2018, Jean Twenge noted that teens who spend more time behind screens are at a higher risk for depression. Since 2012, the year when most Americans became smartphone owners, teens’ mental health has been in decline. One study found that, after just seven minutes of scrolling on Instagram, young women showed decreased body satisfaction and negative emotional state.

To be clear, this is not just a matter of content. As Jonathan Haidt argued:

Content moderation is to some extent a red herring, a distraction from larger issues. Yes, it must be done and done better, but even if these platforms could someday remove 95% of harmful content, the platforms will still be harmful to kids. 

Social media companies have long known about these harms, but they have failed to offer much help to minors or their parents. As mother of five and CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation Dawn Hawkins noted, “The parental controls do not work. They’ve designed these platforms without parents in mind.” For example, 32 steps are required on Apple devices to set up parental controls.

The ubiquity of smartphones, social media, and the internet has created, in Haidt’s words, a collective action problem for our children. That’s a situation in which many people would benefit from a particular course of action, but if only one person or small group of people chooses that course of action, it will not be beneficial, but costly. The result? Without collective action, no individual is likely to take any action. 

In recent years, groups of Christians, including families, have joined together to take the “Postman Pledge,” a year-long commitment to raise kids without phones and in community with one another. While good and creative, these grassroots efforts have limits—especially for those who can’t afford to homeschool their kids or send them to private schools that share their convictions.

The move by states to help parents protect their kids at school is helpful for just these families. To be sure, state regulation is never a replacement for good parenting or good community. Even in school districts where smartphones are restricted, parents must help their teens use social media and smartphones wisely, in ways that limit their harmful effects. Parents and concerned community members must come together to figure out what is best for these students.

What is clear is that these policies are providing a much needed aid for American families who would otherwise be powerless against the titans of big tech. Let’s hope more states follow suit.

This Breakpoint  was co-authored by Jared Hayden. If you’re a fan of Breakpoint, leave a review on your favorite podcast app. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, go to breakpoint.org. 