Security watchdog State Armor Action on Wednesday launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign against the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok, warning of parent company ByteDance's close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
TikTok has long faced scrutiny over its connections to the Chinese government and its handling of user data. The House this month approved legislation that would force ByteDance to either divest from TikTok or face a ban on its operation in the U.S. President Joe Biden has indicated he would sign the bill and has urged the Senate to send it to his desk.
"TikTok is a dangerous, sophisticated communist propaganda and espionage tool," said State Armor CEO Michael Lucci. "Through TikTok, Communist Party agents have direct access to over 100 million phones in America, leaving them well positioned to have a serious, malign influence on our everyday discourse and even our 2024 elections."
"TikTok routinely pushes propaganda that is designed to undermine everything Americans hold dear: our family values, our way of life, the mental health of our youth, and even the very basis for our constitutional government," he went on. "Worse, this deluge of ideological brainwashing is directed specifically towards vulnerable young people."
State Armor's campaign focuses in particular on ByteDance's Communist Party secretary, Zhang Fuping, who doubles as both its vice president and editor-in-chief. Including a national TV ad, digital ads, a website, and billboard campaign, the effort aims to highlight Fuping's role and the means by which the CCP uses TikTok to influence American politics.
"He controls what 170 million Americans think. You've never heard of him for a reason," begins the 30-second ad. "Zhang Fuping, top Chinese communist, editor of TikTok. His mission: 'transmit the correct political direction. Public opinion.' And it's working for China. He's influencing millions, stoking divisions, and driving misinformation."
"China is using TikTok to sway America politics and opinion. Zhang Fuping has said so himself," it concludes.
"As long as it remains under the control of Fuping, ByteDance, and the Communist Party, TikTok is a dangerous tool in the hands of a dangerous enemy, and it must be taken away before it is too late," Lucci added.
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