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January 17, 2025

The Threat of TikTok: Why It Must Be Banned

The Threat of TikTok: Why It Must Be Banned

I know lots of people love TikTok, both for spending time and generating revenue, but this app is a tool for the Chinese Communist Party. Make no mistake, Congress was right to ban it and Trump was right, in his first term, when he wanted the same.

There are a large number of obvious risks in giving US government officials’ location data to our biggest competitor. Plus, there are credible reports that the CCP has censored or demoted content that is critical of their actions, so they could easily use TikTok to wage an influence campaign in the USA.

The US government even gave TikTok a chance to ring fence US user data from Chinese access, but whistleblower reports indicate a number of employees based in China retained access and viewed user data. How can we continue to trust them to do the right thing?

As the sad story of Jack Ma and Alibaba shows, all companies in China must do exactly what the CCP wants or face horrific consequences. We have to expect TikTok’s operations are under the same influence.

Finally, we should acknowledge the only reason this question remains open is due to a major investor in TikTok making big donations to the GOP. That is a terrible reason to ignore a real threat.

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Ash Rust

Ash Rust

Managing Partner, Sterling Road
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