On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) argued that China cannot be allowed to dictate the algorithm on TikTok that determines what Gen Z sees on the app, “and Donald Trump himself understood that.” But, by asking the Supreme Court to pause so he can negotiate a solution, he’s throwing away the best leverage over TikTok.
Auchincloss said [relevant remarks begin around 7:20] that the content that Gen Z sees “is being brokered for them by an algorithm that the Chinese Communist Party controls. Now, in China, that algorithm shows Chinese children educational content and it limits the amount of time they can spend on the platform. In the United States, it shows American kids anti-Western, anti-American content, and it keeps them scrolling for hours on end. This is undermining the ideological coherence of the next generation of Americans, and we have every reason to insist that, while people can post whatever they want, the manner by which that content reaches eyeballs is not going to be dictated to us by a foreign adversary.”
He added, “What Trump is saying, Jim, about he alone can negotiate a better deal just doesn’t pass the common sense test. If you were negotiating with somebody, why would you remove the greatest leverage that you have over them to accede to your position? The impending ban is the leverage that any dealmaker would need to get a better deal for the American people.”
Auchincloss concluded that “allowing Gen Z to develop their sense of American society from an algorithm dictated by the Politburo in Beijing is a really bad idea, and Donald Trump himself understood that.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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