WASHINGTON, D.C.– Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi today released the following statement in response to a Forbes report that TikTok and ByteDance employees can utilize a secret tool that can make any video go viral.
“TikTok’s ‘heating’ policy is exactly the kind of mechanism that could allow the Chinese Communist Party to manipulate the algorithm that controls the largest social media app in our nation. This isn’t simply an issue of TikTok promoting one dance video over another, but of a hostile foreign adversary’s ability to control the news that Americans consume. Congress should take immediate action to ban TikTok in the United States so long as it remains under CCP control, and in the meantime get to the bottom of how TikTok has used its heating policy. In particular, we need to know if ByteDance employees in China have directed or influenced TikTok employees in the United States to ‘heat’ content in order to influence American users. This is a national security imperative.”
Reps. Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi have worked in bipartisan fashion to sound the alarm about the national security threat that TikTok poses. Last year, they introduced bipartisan legislation that would ban TikTok and similar apps from the United States, and more recently sent a letter to ESPN expressing concerns over the company’s decision to allow TikTok to sponsor half-time shows during college football bowl games.
