(DailyDig.com) – Officials from the intelligence agencies, Department of Justice, FBI, and National Intelligence met with House members regarding TikTok on March 12. Avril Haines, director of National Intelligence, included TicTok in their threat assessment ahead of the House vote on a bill to force their parent company, ByteDance, to sell or face a US ban.
Haines, the intelligence agencies’ concern about TicTok stemmed from a report that they were involved in the 2022 midterm elections in the US. According to the report, TicTok has user accounts that serve as an arm of PRC propaganda that targets 2022 political candidates.
The report is a summary of the insights from the Intelligence Community (IC). It concentrates on threats, serious and direct, to the US during the upcoming year, according to the report. It focused on threats to the US by communist China, which include technology, intelligence operations, military, cyber, economic, space, destructive weapons, and operations of negative influence.
One concerning issue is the negative impact of China’s use of TikTok. According to the report, they are attempting to cause users of the app to doubt the leadership of the US and undermine our form of government. They try to promote narratives that are pro-China while they disparage US ideals.
The report concluded that China will most likely interfere with the upcoming 2024 election in order to eliminate critics of their communist government and create division in the US with their false information.
The government of China has denied any election influence posed by the US. The Foreign Ministry of China stated that they have a non-interference principle that they always keep in mind regarding the internal affairs of other nations. Elections are always the people’s choice in America.
Congress rejected China’s attempt to dissuade their attempt to go forward with the proposed legislation, and the 50-0 vote moved the bill to a full vote in the House.
However, lawmakers have raised concerns from both parties that a possible ban on the app violates the right to free speech.
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