Yesterday, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) joined Jake Tapper on State of the Union to discuss his vision for the Select Committee on China and the dangers of TikTok.
Click HERE to watch the full interview, or read highlights of the conversation below:
On his plans for the Select Committee on China:
“The most important thing we want to do with this new Select Committee is make this a bipartisan effort. Speaker-elect McCarthy wants the Democrats to participate in this. He wants us to be serious. And to the extent possible, we want to identify where Congress can speak with one voice when it comes to the policy that best positions us to win this long term competition with the Chinese Communist Party.”
On the dangers of TikTok:
“It’s as if in 1958, given that TikTok is on the cusp of becoming the most powerful media company in America, we would have allowed the KGB and Pravda to buy the New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, all combined…Brendan Carr has called [TikTok] digital fentanyl. I think that comparison is apt for two reasons. One, as he points out, it’s highly addictive and highly destructive. It’s increasing the loneliness, isolation, and rates of suicide and depression we’re seeing among America’s youth.”
On ways the CCP uses social media to promote disinformation:
“Whether or not [the Chinese Communist Party is] doing it intentionally or not, there’s another asymmetry in our relationship. Chinese Wolf Warrior diplomats are all over our social media companies like Twitter and Facebook spreading dangerous lies about the United States. They are attacking us, while at the same time they deny their own citizens in China access to those very same technology platforms. That doesn’t make sense. That’s not a reciprocal relationship. So one thing I’ve encouraged Twitter executives to do is to apply a standard that says ‘if you deny your citizens access, we won’t allow you access to our platform to spread dangerous lies’… That’s an essential part of winning this New Cold War.”
