TikTok went dark on January 18 after the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld a law requiring the popular social media app to separate from its China-based owner, ByteDance, or be removed from U.S. app stores.
In its 14 hours offline, millions of Americans downloaded RedNote, another Chinese video-sharing app, but one that differs from TikTok in that there is no barrier between Chinese youth and American youth.
"What's good for the goose is good for the gander," says Dan Schneider, vice president for free speech at the Media Research Center (MRC). "Maybe what the Chinese Communist Party needs to understand is that [if] putting filth out on social media platforms is bad for the U.S., it should be bad for everybody."
China has been using TikTok to reach and influence youth in America, using its algorithms and more to change how its users perceive the world and, in Schneider's words, "try to destroy our whole culture."
Reports have shown how Americans are given one version of TikTok that pushes smut, dangerous challenges, divisive political messaging, and encourages minors to post videos of themselves dancing provocatively. Meanwhile, China's people are presented a completely different version of the app that shares positivity, pro-government content, and educational material.
The communist leaders have prohibited American apps from operating in China because they do not want the citizens hearing from the U.S. and influencing the Chinese people in ways that the government dislikes – like promoting LGBTQ content or comparing President Xi to Winnie the Pooh.
The New York Post reports RedNote is under pressure to move all non-Chinese users into a separate, quarantined server, and the app has already introduced a new feature that allows users to filter out content from all foreign users.
Schneider says China cannot be allowed to control us, to influence us, or to use our data against us.
"The algorithm behind [TikTok] has been extremely successful in hooking young people to it," he notes. "American technology firms have really tried to figure out how TikTok operates, because they want to hook people on their stuff, too. But it's a really pernicious system, and it raises questions about what government can do to protect its own citizens."
Schneider appreciates that President Trump, who uses TikTok, has given China 75 days to sell off the assets so that TikTok is no longer controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, but he insists that social media platforms should preserve the decency of America "and not … try to convert us into some left-socialist experiment."
He calls the Chinese Communist Party "a serious threat to America" and wants safeguards in place "to protect our own people."
