War Over TikTok

The article caught my eye this morning: “US lawmakers vote 50-0 to force sale of TikTok despite angry calls from users” (ArsTechnica, 7 Mar 2024.). It highlights a proposed bill in the US House of Representatives which would require the Chinese government to entirely DIVEST (sell off) TikTok to non-Chinese owners. I have a few thoughts.

“War Over TikTok” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

First, Here are some key quotations from the article. This first one reflects the broad popularity of TikTok among many people in the United States, and the significant amount of time they spend watching videos on the app:

“Congressional staffers told Politico. “It’s so so bad. Our phones have not stopped ringing. They’re teenagers and old people saying they spend their whole day on the app and we can’t take it away,” one House GOP staffer was quoted as saying.”
Brodkin, J. (2024, March 7). US lawmakers vote 50-0 to force sale of TikTok despite angry calls from users. Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/03/house-committee-votes-50-0-to-force-tiktok-to-divest-from-chinese-owner/

Secondly, consider the next quotation, which immediately follows the first, highlighting the power which Chinese owners and operators of TikTok, as well as the Chinese government that influences them, have at this point over many people in the United States:

“House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said that TikTok enlisting users to call lawmakers showed “in real time how the Chinese Communist Party can weaponize platforms like TikTok to manipulate the American people.”

“This is just a small taste of how the CCP weaponizes applications it controls to manipulate tens of millions of people to further their agenda. These applications present a clear national security threat to the United States and necessitate the decisive action we will take today,” she said before the vote.”
Brodkin, J. (2024, March 7). US lawmakers vote 50-0 to force sale of TikTok despite angry calls from users. Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/03/house-committee-votes-50-0-to-force-tiktok-to-divest-from-chinese-owner/

This situation strikes me as remarkable for multiple reasons.

1. Required Divestiture Amounts to a Threatened Ban

The discussed debate over whether or not this is a “ban” of TikTok (as TikTok characterized it to its users) sounds like a mafia extortion conversation: “If you don’t divest / sell your company to non-Chinese owners, you will lose all access to the US market.”

2. This is “LikeWar”

This article highlights the incredible power TikTok has over users and US citizens. For more on this see the book “Likewar: The Weaponization of Social Media” by Emerson T. Brooking and P. W. Singer. I referenced “LikeWar” in my November 2023 post, “Understanding Rising Populism, Warfare and Authoritarianism.”

3. 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act

This proposed legislation reminds me of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. I asked ChatGPT this morning to summarize that legislation and it’s impact. (Archvied ChatGPT conversation.) While the current proposed legislation does not involve immigration, it definitely does relate directly to US perceptions of China and the Chinese people. It remains to be seen, of course, if the proposed bill will be enacted by Congress, signed by the President, become law, and withstand legal challenges based on freedom of speech and Constitutional rights.

While those things will likely take quite a bit of time to unfold, the perceptual effects of proposed legislation like this may be more immediate. Members of our Congress from different political parties, unable to agree about almost anything else, can agree about the national security threat posed by Chinese-owned TikTok. This topic is likely to become an even bigger political issue in 2024, particularly if it fails to become law or is struck down in our courts.

4. Brewing Peer-to-Peer War

This article and situation is another chapter in the brewing conflict and (potentially) “peer-to-peer war” between the United States and China. This term, “peer-to-peer war,” is one I heard a couple of weeks ago from a military General officer I respect. If we pay attention, there are numerous signs that China is ‘primed for war’ and likely to move against Taiwan in the next 5 to 10 years. While we can hope and pray that this confict can be deterred, the situation does not appear optimistic at this point.

I think many US citizens today under-appreciate the ferocity of current conflict between the US and China, the stakes of that conflict, and the importance of cyber warfare / information campaigns in shaping conflict as well as outcomes.

5. War in 5 Dimensions

This situation involving information warfare and “LIkeWar” reminds me a book we read in military studies at the US Air Force Academy circa 1990, titled “War in the Fourth Dimension.” I’m not sure if this is the same book in a revised form from 2001 or another one, but the theme is the same: “War in the Fourth Dimension: U.S. Electronic Warfare, from the Vietnam War to the Present” by by Alfred Price.”

A primary, salient point of that book is that warfare does not merely take place today in the air, on land and sea. Warfare is fought and arguably won and lost through the information landscape. Social media and mainstream media play a HUGE role in not only shaping public perceptions but also shaping public policy.

We need to spend more time in schools (and not just at US Service Academies) studying warfare, how it is conducted today and how it is won. The battlepace today includes at least FIVE primary dimensions: Air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace.

6. Grandstanding or Real Security Threat?

The fact that many young people who are TikTok users, as well as older adults, appear to not understand the underlying gravity of this situation is troubling. For years on my weekly podcast with Jason Neiffer (“The EdTech Situation Room”) we have discussed articles like this, and through different Presidential administrations it HAS been challenging to decide if proposed legislation regarding TikTok and China are just “grandstanding” by different actors, or represents attempts to address real and pressing US National Security concerns.

Today in March 2024, I definitely believe the security threats posed by TikTok are significant and dangerous. However, the path to address those threats effectively is challenging and difficult.

7. More Than Chinese Ownership

The issues here are not just with Chinese control of TikTok. The hyper-polarized political environment in which we live is a product of multiple factors, but also the changes in regulation of US broadcasters, which led specifically to the rise of political talk radio. One book on my reading wish list related to this is “The Radio Right: How a Band of Broadcasters Took on the Federal Government and Built the Modern Conservative Movement” by Paul Matzko.

As the United States, we cannot simply ban TikTok (which is a likely outcome of this legislation, since China is almost certainly sure to refuse to completely sell it to non-Chinese owners) and solve our polarization crisis. Ultimately, and I think this will take many years and sadly only come AFTER we see heightened levels of political violence and conflict, we have to address (through government regulation) both the ownership issues surrounding large media companies (think Fox News and Australian Rupert Murdoch or Twitter/X and Elon Musk) as well as the requirement for news organizations to provide balanced perspectives on issues, instead of extreme, partisan perspectives.

8. No Short Term Optimism

I’m not optimistic we can ‘put the genie back into the bottle’ when it comes to social media and related forms of information dissemination, like podcasting. It does, however, seem that government regulation needs to play a larger role in these dynamics. While issues of Chinese ownership of a prominent social media company may be acted upon by our Congressional leaders, other underlying issues are unlikely to receive similar, unanimous action.

Another chapter in “LikeWar” unfolds.

For More Reading On This…

It will be interesting to read commentary and analysis by Emerson T. Brooking and P. W. Singer in the days and weeks ahead.

For some additional related reading on this topic, I recommend, “Welcome to Cyber Realism: Parsing the 2023 Department of Defense Cyber Strategy: by Emerson T. Brooking and Erica Lonergan” (War on the Rocks, 23 Sept 2023.) I also recommend the excellent podcast, “Angry Planet,” and joining the private Facebook group I moderate for the “Conspiracies and Culture Wars” media literacy inquiry project.

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