Torres: Historians Will See ‘National Self-Sabotage’ of Letting China Control TikTok As ‘Catastrophic Miscalculation’

During a portion of an interview aired on Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) stated that TikTok’s control by Chinese company ByteDance is “a clear national security risk” to the U.S. and argued that putting “the leading news source for the next generation of Americans, for the most impressionable minds of our society” in the hands of our biggest foreign adversary is a move that historians will see “as a catastrophic miscalculation. It’s national self-sabotage.”

House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) laid out his concerns [relevant remarks begin around 3:45] that China will use ByteDance to manipulate the TikTok platform to influence the opinions of the large number of young people who get their news from the app.

Host Bret Baier then asked, “And where are you on that, Congressman?”

Torres answered, “For me, it’s a clear national security risk. The fact that we have put the leading news source for the next generation of Americans, for the most impressionable minds of our society in the hands of our leading foreign adversary, historians will remember that as a catastrophic miscalculation. It’s national self-sabotage.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett