Alumni Geoff Cain testifies before Senate on the topics TikTok and Social Media’s impact on National Security concerns.
Chairman Peters, Ranking Member Portman, and Members of the Committee: It is an honor to be invited to testify here on social media’s impact on national security. Today, I will talk about one of the greatest technological threats facing our homeland security and democracy: TikTok, the social media app owned by the Chinese parent company ByteDance. TikTok is the fastest-growing social media app ever and is expected to hit 1.8 billion users by the end of this year. Known for its fun and digestible video snippets, the app is enormously popular among celebrities and Generation Z users. It goes to great lengths to appeal to the sensibilities of the American market by loudly proclaiming progressive, democratic, egalitarian values. It posts messages on social media supporting inclusivity, diversity, LGBTQ+ rights, and pro-life causes. All this is a distraction from the reality behind TikTok’s parent company in China, called ByteDance. As an investigative journalist in China and East Asia for thirteen years, I have been detained, harassed, and threatened for my reporting on Chinese technology companies. ByteDance and its subsidiary TikTok have sought to distract us from well-documented ties to the Chinese Communist Party.