Rep. Jeff Jackson’s use of TikTok ‘beyond reckless,’ says NC Sen. Thom Tillis
Rep. Jeff Jackson’s TikTok popularity may not have Sen. Thom Tillis dancing any time soon.
Jackson, a Democrat from Charlotte, has accumulated 1.5 million followers and 10.6 million likes on the platform and recently went viral for posting a video simplifying for his audience what led to the collapse on March 10, of two United States banks. But Tillis, a Republican from Huntersville, said in both a tweet and a news release linking to an article about Jackson’s brush with fame, that his colleagues using TikTok were doing so knowing the “security and privacy risks it poses to the North Carolinians.”
“China is one of the biggest geopolitical threats America has ever faced,” Tillis said. “It’s beyond reckless for members of Congress to still be encouraging their constituents to use TikTok despite knowing the Chinese Communist Party is mining all their personal info. Protecting Americans from the CCP is more important than getting views.”
Tillis’ comments came the same day that the House Committee on Energy and Commerce met for more than five hours to question TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew about the social media platform, it’s connections to China and whether the application posed a risk to Americans.
Jackson has told reporters he creates his TikTok posts using a phone that is designated for that sole purpose and nothing else.
But banning TikTok is becoming as trendy as the app, itself. Since 2020, 26 states have banned the app from use on government devices, including North Carolina. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, introduced a bill in the House that would ban TikTok from all U.S. devices, though it hasn’t gained enough traction to move forward.
TikTok users, unhappy about the proposed ban, took to the halls of the U.S. Capitol last week to film videos in protest.
A quick search of TikTok found that only Jackson and Rep. Wiley Nickel, a Democrat from Cary, have accounts on the platform, though there is a spoof account for Tillis.
Tillis said his colleagues need to set an example and stop using the app.
“I used my presence on TikTok to explain exactly why there is a national security risk and how we could address it,” Jackson told McClatchy. “It was watched by millions. That’s a lot more than any senator will accomplish by throwing a little rock at me.”
TikTok hearing takeaways
Chew introduced TikTok to the committee last week as a place where more than one billion people come to be creative and curious. He promised to secure American data to prevent it from being subject to a law that requires Chinese companies to hand over its data to the Chinese government without notification to its users.
The meeting had hostile undertones toward Chew from a bipartisan group of lawmakers who questioned him about national security. Among the committee members was Rep. Richard Hudson, a Republican living in Southern Pines, who leads the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Hudson largely focused on TikTok employee’s interactions with it’s Chinese counterpart Douyin and TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance and whether the three entities shared resources and asked if the three companies shared technological resources, a question Chew said he would need to get back to Hudson on.
The committee also sought out information about concerns of the platforms addictive nature, whether it promoted misinformation and the impact it was having on mental health.
Jackson’s response
A week after the hearing, Jackson released a newsletter to his supporters calling the hearing “frustrating.”
“All the concerns about declining mental health — especially for teenagers — about the addictive nature of the platform, and about the sheer volume of data that is getting sucked up apply to many other platforms as well,” Jackson said. “The truth is, it’s been Congress’s failure to pass a data privacy law that has gotten us into the situation.”
Jackson acknowledged that TikTok has potential to give data access or algorithm influence to an adversarial government.
Jackson also pointed out that four of the top apps in the Apple App Store are owned by Chinese companies. They include TikTok, CapCut Video Editor and Shadowrocket. Jackson said Congress doesn’t need a one-off solution, but a broader solution.
Tillis’ legislation
Tillis’ news release announced that he’ll cosponsor to bills to tackle international influence and espionage by foreign adversaries on American devices.
The first bill, the Anti-Social CCP Act, is intended to block transactions from any social media company under the influence of China, Russia and other foreign countries of concern.
The second, the RESTRICT Act, would give the Department of Commerce the ability to review, prevent and mitigate information communications and technology transactions that pose unnecessary risks to national security by technology from foreign adversaries.
The latter bill includes giving the Department of Commerce the ability to ban TikTok if they deem necessary.
