Dissecting the proposed US Congress lead banning of the social media stalwart TikTok, one of the most powerful proponents and scapegoats will surely sound familiar. Let’s start with the demonization of the Chinese. From the origins of Covid, to a wayward spy balloon, and now we have a supposed government sanctioned US civilian information theft campaign via TikTok.
It has become ever more apparent that China has taken the place of global terrorism, and the Soviet Union has become the “Free Worlds” number one villian. As for the immensely influential supporter of the TikTok ban, it’s no other than AIPAC, who wield an unseemly amount of clout within both major political parties in the United States.
Here’s what New Jersey Democratic Congressman Josh Gottenheimer said in reference to TikTok’s handling of misinformation regarding the Israel, Palestine fiasco. “China-owned TikTok has been pushing antisemitic, anti-American, pro Hamas content and “is a propaganda machine to influence Americans.” ( courtesy of truthout.org)
This unwarranted quote by Gottenheimer isn’t by accident. Congressman Gottenheimer just so happens to be the top Democratic recipient of campaign donations from AIPAC, he has received 207,559 thousand dollars since the beginning of 2024, so its fair to say his opinions on this matter are understandably biased. (opensecrets.org)
It’s no secret the immense amount of power and influence AIPAC wields within the realm of American politics, it appears to have no limits. AIPAC donated over eight billion dollars during the 2023 election cycle.
The Chinese based company ByteDance was founded in 2012 by two Chinese college students at Nankai University in Tianjin. Its revenue reached 120 billion dollars in 2023 and is officially listed as a privately owned corporation. (theinformation.com). Assuredly the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has plenty of influence on ByteDance, as it surely possesses power over any and every “privately” owned corporation in China.
It would be shortsighted to assume a company of ByteDance’s popularity and profitability could be totally unfettered by the CCP and it’s fair to contend that the Chinese government would not be hesitant to make use of TikTok’s massive international scope to siphon data deemed relevant from its users.
I’m certain the majority of the American public are well aware of social media sites, national security agencies and countless predatory corporations spying on us, trading our personal information, and purchasing habits to the highest bidder. Personally, it doesn’t horrify me any more when a Chinese entity does it. According to a report cosponsored by AARP, American adults lost a total of 43 Billion dollars to identify fraud in 2023.
A 2024 piece posted by governing.com found 61% of Americans have had their personal data breached. This scourge of identity theft, and information infringement is rampant. Ar you telling me that forcing one Social media empire to sell their ownership to a non Chinese company will solve this monumental problem?
This goes back to the anti-China sentiment within the annals of US government. It’s not just about defending the Chinese, our first amendment rights are under constant attack from both major political parties, the Judicial branch and the dark under-belly of the US intelligence sect.
I protect my first amendment rights in the same way the gun nuts defend their 2nd amendment right, but there’s absolutely nothing in common between the right to freedom of speech, choice and the media to the right to bear arms. I’m not going to chastise the NRA types here because it has no bearing on this subject.
You could make a connection with how the liberal left makes a great deal of effort to severely weaken their 2nd amendment rights, in accordance with a number of government organizations attempts at disintegrating our first amendment rights.
The first amendment was adopted December 15, 1791. (congress.gov) The fact this extraordinary piece of legislation has survived, intact, is the seminal law that makes the United States a great country.
To systematically tear down the one facet that most Americans hold dear is disgraceful.
The Patriot Act, enacted in October 2001, was the initial attack on our freedom, twelve years later in June 2013 Edward Snowden alerted all of us that our wonderful Democracy, through the NSA, was running constant surveillance on ordinary citizens. (Info courtesy of whistleblower.org)
Let me make it clear I’m not a fan of TikTok, but that’s not the point, my defense of that particular site has nothing to do with quality, format or substance. Its strictly meant to safeguard their right to post news, videos and other content protected under US law.
Here’s a quote from one of the few Congressmen who voted against the ban, Florida Democrat Maxwell Frost, “I think it’s a violation of people’s first amendment rights. TikTok is a place to express ideas, I have many small businesses and content creators in my district, and I think it’s going to drastically impact them.” (Info courtesy of npr.com). It’s no shock that Mr. Frost is the youngest congressman at 27. The issue here is politicians of Mr. Frosts ilk are far and few between.
We’re always clamoring for bipartisanship from our leaders, but when you dissect a few of the recent examples of Republicans and Democrats reaching across the aisle what have we seen? Israel’s right to defend themselves following the October 7th Hamas attack… see how that’s turned out.
How ’bout the Ukraine? Until recently, both parties were in agreement to send billions of dollars and weapons to fight off Putins onslaught, look what transpired, Ukraine ran out of weapons and expects more blank checks.
Lastly, we get to the focus of this piece, which is the overwhelming results in favor of banning TikTok. The final tally was an absurd 360-58, what framework lead to such a one-sided result? (Info courtesy of whyy.org) Well, we mentioned the function AIPAC played in it, but what other parameters could have so massively swayed these politicians? Is it there fear of China, and their shadowy stable of hackers? Could be something as simple as stopping a foreign owned, potentially Communist lead Social media company leaving the American owned Facebook, Twitter, etc in the dust?
Perhaps it’s a bit of everything, and I certainly don’t want to come off as a pro China individual here. My main objective has and will always be protecting my freedom of speech. Its probably the last thing in this country worth fighting for. Without it, our society will cease to be in so many aspects. Imagine turning on your nightly news cast and not being able to criticize it?
TikToks ban is an injustice and should be treated as such. This is just another example of our government chiselling away at our rights, slowly but surely.
Another great site by the Dangerous Globe
