Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI) said Sunday on “State of the Union” that users in the United States should delete the social media app TikTok over concerns that it is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “The U.S. Senate just voted unanimously to ban TikTok from government phones. TikTok is a popular app that is from China. You have a bill to ban TikTok completely nationally over its ties to China and because of national security risks. For the 100 million TikTok users in the U.S., including two-thirds of teenagers, including two teenagers I know very well, what information could the Chinese government be collecting about them, and should they delete that app?”
Gallagher said, “They should, and I recognize, particularly as a younger member of Congress, this will make me very unpopular with your teenagers and many others. The fundamental problem is this, TikTok is owned by ByteDance, and ByteDance is effectively controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.”
He added, “The question we have to ask is whether we want to give the CCP the ability to track our location, track what websites we visit even when we’re not using the TikTok app itself. And, increasingly, since a large percentage of Americans use TikTok to get their news, whether we want them to have the ability to selectively edit that news.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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