A key witness during a congressional hearing warned that TikTok poses an imminent threat to American children and U.S. national security.
The dire warning came from Dr. Allison Stanger, a professor of International Politics and Economics at Middlebury College. She testified on Wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee on the extent of the TikTok threat.
“I very much support and applaud legislation to end TikTok’s operations in the United States. The national security implications are extraordinary,” Stanger said, responding to a question from Rep. Bob Latta, the subcommittee chairman, about the security threat of some Big Tech platforms.
Latta asked Stanger, “How vulnerable are we? Are we winning this race? Are we losing this race?” In response, Stanger exclaimed: “We are stars in innovation so we want to keep that advantage but our very openness makes us vulnerable. China doesn’t have to worry about freedom of speech.”
Earlier in her testimony, Stanger rebuked how “we have a Chinese company where data on American children is being stored and potentially utilized in China.” Expanding on her warning, Stanger said that such data can be weaponized to influence American children “in any number of ways, no matter what they tell you.”
The purpose of the hearing was to discuss proposed changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Section 230 shields Big Tech companies from liability for content posted on their social media platforms, according to some judges.
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Stanger’s comments come as the House Energy and Commerce Committee weighs in on potential amendments to Section 230 to allow civil lawsuits against Big Tech companies who turned a blind eye to potentially illegal content.
The professor’s warnings also come against the backdrop of bipartisan legislation that, if passed, would empower the president to force TikTok to divest from its communist Chinese government-tied parent company, ByteDance.
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TikTok must divest itself from China if it wants to do business in the United States.
— Media Research Center (@theMRC) March 12, 2024
We at the MRC have been consistent from the beginning. TikTok is a national security threat. @BrentBozell pic.twitter.com/FfSh1futU3
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