As long as TikTok is owned by a Chinese company that’s subject to the whims of the Chinese Communist Party (C.C.P.), the app should be banned in America.
Though the company keeps the algorithm that powers TikTok secret, mounting evidence suggests that the C.C.P. uses the app to spread authoritarian values. Because Americans use TikTok for news, the platform can secretly influence what issues Americans learn about, what information they consider accurate, and what conclusions they draw from world events.
ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, calls itself a private company, but companies in China aren’t really private: Chinese law requires them to comply with Chinese intelligence agencies’ demands. Members of China’s ruling Communist Party even sit on ByteDance’s board, and ByteDance has its own internal Communist Party committee, which helps guide the company’s direction.