Everyone talking about the possible ban of social media app TikTok has strong opinions. TikTok influencers and users, mostly teenagers and young adults, don't want their access to the popular platform to be interrupted or restricted. TikTok's strongest critics, most of them conservative, are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a federal law that would force ByteDance (TikTok's parent company) to sell and end its U.S. operations.
former vice president mike pencewith almost 2 dozen The state attorney general filed a court brief pressuring SCOTUS to force the sale. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump has filed a court brief urging SCOTUS to delay a potential ban on TikTok.
President Trump's brief rightly highlights the “unprecedented, new, and difficult tensions between free speech rights on the one hand and foreign policy and national security concerns on the other.”
But there is another source that the court will not hear: the Chinese Communist Party. what do they think?
Few are saying what the communists in Beijing think about the impending TikTok decision. China is using TikTok as a weapon to wage unrestricted war against the United States. This is why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) view TikTok has been labeled a “modern-day Trojan horse” and its powerful algorithms classified as a top-secret “national security asset.”
TikTok has a constant stream of short, overly provocative videos, making it a powerfully addictive source of propaganda. Colonel Dai Xu, China's top military academy professor, said in a limited Chinese academic journal: I wrote The real battle between the United States and China is said to be “information-driven psychological warfare.” Another Chinese Communist Party magazine said: [People’s Liberation Army] Propaganda activists are increasingly aware of the popularity of short videos online, and TikTok is the best example so far. ”
Three teenage boys are looking at a smartphone screen. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
Zeng Huafeng, leading strategist of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) claim The Chinese Communist Party “uses information and popular spiritual and cultural products as weapons to influence people's psychology, will, attitude, and behavior, and even change ideology, values, cultural traditions, and social institutions.” It says that you have to use . According to Zeng, cultural tools such as apps, video games, and movies should be used to “target individuals, groups, countries, and even people around the world.”
According to information from China, military strategistIn this way, Beijing can gain “spiritual superiority” by “blocking off historical memory” and “dismantling” it. [cultural] “Perceptual manipulation” through propaganda spread on digital platforms like TikTok.
TikTok is a vehicle for “subliminal messaging,” which Chinese strategists argue is more effective than overt political propaganda. “The ultimate goal is to manipulate the country's values and achieve strategic objectives without engaging in actual overt military combat,” the PLA strategist added.
In an obscure Chinese Communist Party report titled “Analysis of Modern Network Media Warfare from the Perspective of Intelligent Technology,” military strategists in Beijing state: revealed The best propaganda reaches out to young “impressionable people” through entertainment.
“Entertainment is the main motive for Gen Z's content consumption,” said Peng Zhengang, deputy director of the advertising department. another The Chinese Communist Party's military strategy paper entitled “Study on Generation Z's international communication strategy and practical path.” By better understanding the people it is trying to promote, the Chinese Communist Party can “Exploring effective communication strategies and channels, [and] Improve your ability to set the agenda. ”
Chinese Communist Party analyst Liu Ying wrote in “Polyphony: New Media's International Communication Advantages, Predicaments, and Approaches'' that “content management is becoming increasingly important,'' and that “emotional He pointed out that “incitement'' is a problem. . . It can influence public opinion more than facts and truth. ”
The Chinese Communist Party has funded a study on “Digital Propaganda and Public Opinion Manipulation on Social Media Platforms,” which found that “emotional content can create the illusion of 'independent thinking' in viewers and cause them to feel irrational.” It was found that it is easy to attribute this to “righteous indignation'' and “empathy.'' It increases the value of delusion. ”
Their goal is to “strengthen the Chinese Communist Party's overseas propaganda and guide the international community to form a correct party.” [view of the Communist Party and of China]'' said Shen Haixiong, the Chinese Communist Party's top propaganda activist.
The Chinese government's investigation into online operations further notes that online propaganda is a “highly covert propaganda method” and that “its effects can far exceed traditional propaganda.” The study authors said such propaganda could even “impact the social stability and political security of the targeted countries and regions.”
A citizen checks a “Ministry of Defense-issued'' TikTok account on his mobile phone in Shanghai, China, on August 18, 2024. (Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
There is countless evidence that Chinese psychological warfare strategists target Americans, especially young Americans. They believe that not only are America's youth more susceptible to influence through propaganda, but that influence can last for generations.
Mr. Trump has good instincts about China. His brief makes clear that he understands at least some of the national security threats outlined above. But his mistreatment by his previous owners, US social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, has made him a target for TikTok, which is seeking a sympathetic ear. The app gave President Trump's campaign unfettered access to Trump's important young voting base. recognized It was informative.
Any favors TikTok tries to do for President Trump are likely not to last. His hawkish China policy is deeply unpopular in Beijing, and the Chinese Communist Party will no doubt use TikTok to undermine him. In other words, TikTok desperately needs President Trump. Trump doesn't need TikTok. In fact, TikTok's allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party makes it inherently hostile to his policies.
The Chinese Communist Party has told us how it views this app as a Trojan horse weapon, so this should end the discussion. If the Chinese government refuses to sell TikTok to American owners, must Prohibited.
Peter Schweitzer is the director of the Government Accountability Institute, a senior contributor to Breitbart, and a #1 New York Times bestselling author. Blood Money: Why those in power turn a blind eye while China kills Americans and Red-handed: How America's elites got rich by helping China win.
