While TikTok faces increasingly restrictive legislation in the United States, Republican MP Mike Gallagher points to the addiction of the social network and wants to ban it.
In the United States, the noose is tightening around TikTok. On December 27, the Senate approved a ban on the social network on government phones. Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher goes even further by comparing internet addiction to “digital fentanyl” and wants to ban it in the United States.
Guest on Sunday January 1st in the show Meet The Press on the chain NBCMike Gallagher said that TikTok is comparable to “digital fentanyl (an opioid used for chronic pain)” because it “is highly addictive and destructive. We have disturbing data on the negative impact of the constant use of social networks, especially on young Americans”, he said on air.
China directly targeted
Mike Gallagher also attacks the use of the network by Chinese propaganda. He believes that TikTok, which is growing in popularity, must be brought under control and claims that the social network is directly linked to the Chinese Communist Party: “TikTok is owned by ByteDance and ByteDance is indeed controlled by the CCP (…) We must ask ourselves if we want the CCP to control what is on the verge of becoming America’s most powerful social network,” he warned onNBC.
Before going even further and wondering if TikTok does not control American information. “What if they start censoring news, right? What if they start changing the algorithm to determine what the CCP sees fit to say,” Mike Gallagher ranted dubious analogy with the KGB and Pravda “who bought the New York Times and other major newspapers at the time of the Cold War”.
For its part, TikTok denied this information, report it FinancialTimessaying there was “no truth” to the deputy’s claims and that they are available to Congress to brief members on the company’s “comprehensive plan to address national security concerns”.
American takeover?
More broadly, US politicians define TikTok as a potential national security risk. Last month, the US Senate voted to approve a bill banning federal employees from using TikTok on government devices. More than a dozen US states have already taken steps to ban their employees from installing TikTok on these phones.
Mike Gallagher also says he is open to selling TikTok to an American company, which he says would be “a viable solution”. He even introduced legislation with Marco Rubio, to ban TikTok entirely in the United States.
Last month, FBI Director Chris Wray said TikTok could be used to facilitate espionage and that Beijing has the ability to control the app’s algorithm in ways that facilitate “influence operations”. in the USA.
Since 2020, TikTok has been negotiating with the US government for a potential deal to address national security concerns and allow the app to remain accessible to US users. But the apparent lack of results in the negotiations has led some politicians to push to ban the app.
