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Here’s a five-point explainer on TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), which describes itself as a U.S. “nonpartisan research institute with a focus on national security and foreign policy.”
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1. Has a close connection to China’s military-industrial Complex: According to the FDD, “in 2018, backed by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, ByteDance established the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence,” which “stands at the crossroads of civilian AI and military applications, collaborating with Chinese universities to produce cutting-edge research for China’s People’s Liberation Army.”
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2. It’s bound by Chinese state surveillance laws: This mean ByteDance “has to adhere to CCP ideology,” saystheA FDD. China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law makes “all” Chinese organizations and citizens collaborate with state intelligence operations, “effectively co-opting private entities into extensions of the government’s surveillance apparatus.”
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3. It answers to Beijing: “In the late 2010s, a consortium that included the Cyberspace Administration of China, effectively the country’s internet censor, acquired a 1% stake in ByteDance’s primary Chinese subsidiary,” says the FDD. “This stake, known as a ‘golden share,’ is small but mighty, granting the state the power to appoint one of the subsidiary’s three board directors.”
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4. It doesn’t tell the truth about spying on Americans: The FDD claims, “ByteDance personnel improperly accessed sensitive U.S. user data, including information about American journalists, to identify their sources within the company. Although this was initially denied, the FDD says “internal disclosures later confirmed the opposite, revealing that the surveillance occurred.”
5. It funds a powerful lobbying contingent in Washington: “Unmatched by any other Chinese firm, the company’s lobbying muscle includes over 45 lobbyists from storied K Street – such as Crossroads Strategies, K&L Gates, and Mehlman Consulting – as well as a litany of other influential insiders,” says the FDD.
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