Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC) recently made her first-ever TikTok video back a few months ago – to explain why she was against banning TikTok.
It’s a savvy move, which further demonstrates AOC’s internet marketing skill; she’s been able to leverage the internet into a celebrity and a prominence unrivaled in the House, despite having accomplished very little of substance.
Clearly, AOC has some talent when it comes to using the internet – and she relies heavily on the internet to build her brand and get her message out there.
So, that AOC is intent on saving TikTok is somewhat more significant (and more self-serving) than, say, Senator Rand Paul working to save TikTok.
The Debate over TikTok and AOC
A few months ago, TikTok chief Shou Zi Chew spent five hours in front of a U.S. House committee, defending TikTok, as both Republican and Democratic lawmakers asked difficult questions about the app. At front-of-mind for the lawmakers were the national security implications of having over 150 million Americans so invested in an app whose user data the Chinese government can allegedly access.
After the hearing, AOC came out in favor of preserving TikTok. Again, no surprise there – she thrives on the internet and on social media. And perhaps more importantly, AOC is in touch with young voters – who are generally in favor of preserving TikTok.
AOC’s pro-TikTok TikTok post was just one of many released after the Chew hearing. “Thousands of video edits flooded the app making fun of moments in the hearing,” The Guardian reported. “Young users have skewered politicians as out of touch for questions about TikTok’s technology. “This is the most boomer thing I have ever seen,” one caption reads on a video of a member of Congress accusing TikTok of tracking users’ pupil dilation.
Despite the backlash from young Americans, and from AOC, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has said that Congress will proceed with legislation restricting TikTok. The legislation will appease the ever-increasing calls to ban TikTok outright or to at least give President Biden’s administration the legal authority to ban the app. Devices owned by the U.S. government have already been banned from installing the app; the legislation could go as far as to potentially ban all U.S. citizens from using the app.
“The House will be moving forward with legislation to protect Americans from the technological tentacles of the Chinese Communist Party,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter. Later, McCarthy added that “it’s very concerning that the CEO of TikTok can’t be honest and admit what we already know to be true – China has access to TikTok user data.”
AOC’s Rationale
In AOC’s three-minute-plus TikTok debut, she laid out her rationale for keeping TikTok. First, AOC emphasized that banning TikTok would be unprecedented, as the U.S. has never banned a social media company before. I don’t find this argument very convincing; if a company is behaving in an unprecedented way or poses unprecedented national security risks, then unprecedented action should be taken against that company. I’m not suggesting TikTok has behaved in an unprecedented way, only that AOC’s argument doesn’t hold here.
Second, AOC wiggled out from concerns that TikTok was harvesting U.S. user data for the Chinese government by saying banning TikTok didn’t really get to the heart of the issue; that US social media companies collected troves of sensitive user data “without any significant regulation whatsoever.”
The solution, according to AOC, is not to ban individual companies but to protect the U.S. from data harvesting generally. I agree with AOC that broader regulations against data harvesting should be put in place. Banning TikTok does not address the bigger issue. But that does not necessarily make banning TikTok unreasonable.
Third, AOC points out that Congress has never received a national security briefing over allegations against TikTok. Fair enough, although it may be wise to guard against national security breaches before they occur, rather than after they occur.
Fourth, AOC argues that a decision to ban a social media company should be made publicly, by the people, rather than behind the closed doors of Congress. Well, Congress is composed of elected representatives, who were elected as proxies of the people, so that the general public could, through their proxy, have a say in the legislative process. That’s what’s happening here, which AOC knows full well, so I suppose this last bit is just a virtue signal to democracy.
In sum, AOC issues a thin argument – yet I find myself agreeing with the idea that we shouldn’t rush into a ban of a social media company before we know more. That being said, I am deeply skeptical of social media companies in general and their primary objective of harvesting user data. I’m not necessarily offended by a heavy-handed approach to regulating social media, although I would like to know more about what TikTok is up to.
Harrison Kass is the Senior Editor at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
From 19FortyFive
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