OK, Zoomers!
Most Americans view TikTok as a national security threat and believe the US should ban the Chinese social media app — unless they are younger than 30 years old.
A CBS News/YouGov poll in March found just 39% of Gen Z US adults aware of TikTok between the ages of 18 and 29 are in support of an outright ban.
Eighty-three percent of adults over the age of 65 who know about TikTok want to ban the app, along with 65% of adults between 45 and 64 years old and 55% of adults between 30 and 44 years old.
Overall, 61% of US adults favor a ban, and 39% oppose one.
A majority of Americans (56%) who have heard about the issue view TikTok’s ties to China as a national security threat, while 22% do not and 22% are not sure.
TikTok is owned by the Beijing-based company ByteDance Ltd., which the Chinese Communist Party owns a 1% stake in.
CEO Shou Zi Chew was grilled before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday about his company’s links to China.
“We do not trust TikTok will ever embrace American values,” said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), who chairs the committee.
“TikTok has repeatedly chosen the path for more control, more surveillance, and more manipulation. Your platform should be banned.” she told Chew, adding that the company has “repeatedly been caught in the lie that it does not answer to the CCP through ByteDance.”
Chew denied any connection.
“I have seen no evidence that the Chinese government has access to that data,” he told House lawmakers. “They have never asked us, we have not provided. I have seen no evidence of this happening.”
Chew also said he takes national security concerns over TikTok “very, very seriously” and maintains that his company is “free from any manipulation from any government.”
He pointed to TikTok’s $1.5 billion spending push to guard users’ data, which he said was stored in the US, not in China.
“I still believe that the Beijing Communist government will still control and have the ability to influence what you do,” said Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), in bipartisan pushback to Chew’s claims.
Younger Democratic lawmakers have pushed back on the dangers of TikTok use, with “Squad”-aligned Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) calling efforts to ban the app “racist.”
The testimony comes days after a cybersecurity report revealed that ByteDance deployed tracking technology on the websites of at least 27 US state governments.
Before his testimony, Chew called on more than 150 million US users to share “what you love about TikTok” online so he could bring the posts to Congress.
Eighty-three percent of Americans surveyed by the CBS/YouGov poll are concerned about foreign influence on social media — with 48% saying they are “very concerned” and 35% saying they are “somewhat concerned.”
The poll was conducted between March 20 and 22 and surveyed more than 2,000 US adults, with a margin of error of 3.2 points.
