OPINION:
Americans want the federal government to focus on fixing their everyday issues, not boosting the power of special interests. But time after time, influential companies use lobbyists to undermine policy changes while average Americans suffer under high inflation and a struggling economy.
The rhetorical war on TikTok is a great example of special interests at work. There are legitimate concerns about the ownership of the company based in China and the protection of the privacy of data acquired from American users. One of the special interests amplifying these concerns is Facebook, which could make billions if TikTok were banned in the United States. In this effort, Facebook has hired an army of lobbyists and directed donations to politicians.
Luckily, the media sniffed out this campaign. The Washington Post reported that Facebook paid a GOP firm to engage in a well-funded political sabotage campaign against TikTok. The powerhouse firm Targeted Victory led “a nationwide campaign seeking to turn the public against TikTok” by “placing op-eds and letters to the editor in major regional news outlets, promoting dubious stories about alleged TikTok trends that actually originated on Facebook, and pushing to draw political reporters and local politicians into helping take down its biggest competitor.”
The campaign was a smashing success. Congress and the Biden administration are taking steps that could ban TikTok in the United States.
Facebook also helped to set up a dark money group packed with former members of Congress to open up another front in the attack. The American Edge Project has pushed an anti-China and anti-TikTok message to policymakers. There is nothing wrong with a pro-America message, but Facebook is the wrong messenger.
Before Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg targeted TikTok for its China connections, he was desperately trying to corner the Chinese market himself. Mr. Zuckerberg spent years trying to get the Chinese government to grant his company a monopoly, even asking Chinese President Xi Jinping to give his child an honorary Chinese name. China rebuffed Mr. Zuckerberg’s attempt to corner the market, and Mr. Xi declined to provide an honorary name to the Facebook founder’s baby girl.
So back at home, Facebook declared political war on TikTok. Doug Kelly, CEO of the Facebook-funded American Edge, wrote on Feb. 10, 2022, “A recent study found that TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, allows more third-party trackers to collect your data than any other social media app — but no one really knows where that data goes or how it is used.”
Facebook is the last company that should be bankrolling arguments about protecting data. According to Tech Republic, the 2016 “Facebook data privacy scandal” centered on the collection of personally identifiable information of up to 87 million people by the political consulting and strategic communication firm Cambridge Analytica. Facebook should shore up its own data security before accusing others of being lax.
Bradley Smith, a board member of American Edge, wrote in the Washington Examiner: “China’s latest technological innovations dovetail all too neatly with its anti-democratic practices. As has widely been reported, Beijing exploits tech to surveil and spy on its citizens, publicly shame those who owe debt or commit minor infractions such as jaywalking, implement social credit score systems, and censor dissent.” The irony is that Facebook is itself spying on Americans.
Location services for Facebook allow the company to know where you are and what information you are likely consuming. Gennie Gebhart, a research director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told USA Today that location tracking is used by Facebook to target ads. “Maybe you’re in an airport, lingering in front of an ad, and that signals to an advertiser that you might be interested in the product. Or you’re in a bar, watching a TV show, and you get an ad for the TV show. Location services knows you’re in a bar where that show might be popular.” Creepy.
In addition, Facebook colluded with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic. And the New York Post reported on Sept. 14, 2022, that Facebook spied on the private messages of Americans who questioned the results of 2020 election. Facebook has no standing to complain about data privacy.
Facebook is doing this for a financial motive. The company’s Instagram app promotes a service called Reels, which is a cloned replica of TikTok that would be a substitute and stand to gobble up U.S. market share if its competitor is shut down by the government. The biggest winner of a ban on TikTok in the United States would be the company that’s paying a legion of government affairs operatives to hammer TikTok into oblivion.
This is crony capitalism at its worst, and policymakers need to see through the deceit and make decisions based on what is best for average Americans.
• Peter Mihalick is the former legislative director and counsel to former Reps. Barbara Comstock, Virginia Republican, and Rodney Blum, Iowa Republican.
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