TikTok’s aggressive push to stop Congress from forcing a sale or ban of Chinese-owned apps has turned into a disaster. And insiders blame the company’s sophisticated and experienced Washington lobbyists, who they say miscalculated with outdated and tone-deaf tactics.
As a bipartisan bill moves toward passage late last month as part of the Ukraine-Israel aid package, TikTok launches a headline-grabbing campaign that mobilizes its 170 million American users through app push notifications, prompting top executives to CEO Xu Chu told users, “I heard your voice.”
But the controversial blitzkrieg causes a reaction. Tactics Uber and Airbnb used nearly a decade ago A fierce battle in New York City sparked what skeptics dismissed as nothing more than a prank call. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) called the police after receiving a voicemail threatening to “find, shoot, and dismember” him if he voted for the TikTok bill.
“These calls were from children and teenagers who don’t even have the right to vote, and they were threatening suicide and threatening to kill members of Congress,” said a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Policy. Michael Sobolik said:
Beltway insiders traced the call to Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s director of public policy. Mr. Beckerman is a notorious tech industry operative and former Republican Hill staffer who posed for Modern Luxury magazine’s Men of Style issue. wearing $5,000 shoes In 2014.
Beckerman, a former president of the now-defunct industry group the Internet Association, joined TikTok in January 2020 and played a key role in shaping government strategy as calls to ban the app gained momentum and served in the Senate. He also testified on behalf of the company at the hearing. 2021.
Mr. Beckerman is seen as an engaging communicator who can command a room, but officials said his forceful personality and flashy costumes could make people uncomfortable in Washington, D.C. .
“If you walk into a Congressional office wearing shoes that are five times more expensive than the entire wardrobe of the staff member you’re meeting with, you’re not really doing your job and you’re not communicating well,” said former Congressman Nathan.・Reamer says. FCC policy advisor and CEO of Fixed Gear Strategies.
TikTok and its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance Spent $7 million on lobbying It ran ads opposing the ban and tapped Beltway heavyweights, including former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, to support its efforts. TikTok has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the law, arguing that it is unconstitutional.
TikTok’s big mistake, according to Washington, D.C., insiders who spoke to the Post, was to ignore the elephant in the room: that the Chinese Communist Party was using U.S. user data for nefarious purposes, and that There are concerns that this could sway public opinion, especially in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.
Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Kerr, a fierce critic of TikTok, said, “TikTok’s D.C. defense has never addressed these concerns head-on.” “What they continued to do was provide unresponsive answers, obfuscate and focus on how popular they believed the app was.”
TikTok had warned that the crackdown would be a huge blow to small and medium-sized businesses in the U.S. that rely on the app. This is a well-worn talking point in Big Tech’s strategy, reflecting a tactic Google and Meta have used for years. TikTok also commissioned a study from Oxford Economics that found the app will contribute more than $24 billion to the U.S. economy in 2023.
“That was definitely Michael,” said a former colleague of Beckerman’s.
A TikTok spokesperson said the company “makes no apologies for explaining the tremendous benefits TikTok brings to the American economy and thousands of small businesses.”
A source close to TikTok also laughed off claims that Beckerman’s wardrobe had somehow offended Hill staffers as “faking it,” saying that his shoe choices were actually “pretty modest.” Ta. He is said to be purchasing from a company called Taft, which is based in Utah and sells shoes for under $400.
“Michael has strong relationships on Capitol Hill and is widely respected as a thoughtful and effective advocate for our company and our user community,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement.
Meanwhile, in a March 11 letter reviewed by the Post, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), said TikTok “uses its platform to deceive the American people” through push notifications. “It’s happening,” he accused. He added: “TikTok could spread misinformation about war next week.”
However, a source close to TikTok insisted that it was “completely false” that the push notifications backfired.
“The Senate never took up this bill,” the official said. “The only way they could get this done was to have a hearing in private. The hearing was not open to the public, the markup was not open to the public, it was all behind closed doors. After all, they had a large The only way they could have passed the bill was by hiding it inside a massive Israeli-Ukraine aid package.
A TikTok spokesperson also defended the move asking users to call their local representatives, saying, “We’ve heard from thousands of voters who opposed and complained about the bill and then begged them to vote yes.” It would be an interesting political calculation for MPs to hear.” ”
Critics say that as the tech industry gained power in the early 2010s, user activism that once intimidated lawmakers into action became less effective now that Congressional offices have become more tech-savvy. He argues that there is.
“My personal view is that this is a strategy that any company, especially one with ties to China that would be under intense scrutiny for foreign influence, would avoid at all costs to have ties to the government. I think it’s been a master class for people,” said Zach Graves. , executive director of the American Innovation Foundation.
TikTok’s attempt to present itself as a standard technology company, rather than one that has been singled out as a propaganda and espionage tool for the Chinese government complicit in election interference, is a fatal flaw in its lobbying efforts. It has been found.
“The first thing Michael should have hired was a National Security Agency employee. Michael didn’t make that hire,” the former colleague added. “Instead, he focused on making TikTok look like every other company in town. That was a major weakness in the early stages of his strategy.”
Officials close to TikTok countered that the company has consistently touted its efforts to address national security concerns. $2 billion “Project Texas” contract We use Oracle to store user data in the continental United States. A TikTok spokesperson also denied claims that the Chinese Communist Party has access to US user data.
“As other media outlets have reported, there has never been any evidence to support these claims, and in fact, TikTok is far ahead of its peers in the areas of data security and data sovereignty.” a spokesperson said in a statement.
The spokesperson also dismissed the notion that TikTok failed to hire a former national security official, but declined to comment on specific hires.
“TikTok US Data Security is led by experts drawn from the national security community, who regularly engage with Congress and policymakers to explain our efforts in this area. This is a complete distortion as it serves the purpose of
Some observers believe Beckerman is being dealt a near-impossible hand, given the level of bipartisan support for banning TikTok and the major changes in U.S.-China geopolitical relations since 2020. said.
“He must have been under an incredible amount of pressure,” said Chris Castle, a lawyer specializing in music industry policy. “He did a very good job of dodging the government for a long time.”
Sobolik added that Beckerman’s strategy probably worked for TikTok “five or seven years ago.”
“It has become a bad political position to defend the Chinese Communist Party’s control over everything in the United States,” Sobolik said. “Tactics have limitations when you are in a politically toxic position.”
