Everyone talking about a potential ban on the social media app TikTok has a strong opinion. TikTok influencers and users, mostly teens and young adults, do not want their access to the popular platform interrupted or restricted. TikTok’s strongest critics, mostly conservative, are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a federal law that would force ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company) to divest and end its U.S. operations.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, along with nearly two-dozen state attorneys general, have filed amicus briefs that press SCOTUS to force the divestiture. President-elect Donald Trump, meanwhile, has filed an amicus brief advocating for SCOTUS to delay a potential TikTok ban.
Trump’s brief rightly highlights the “unprecedented, novel, and difficult tension between free-speech rights on one side, and foreign policy and national-security concerns on the other.”
But there’s another opinion, from a source the Court will not hear from – the Chinese Communist Party. What do they think?
Very few are talking about what the communists in Beijing think of the looming TikTok decision. China is wielding TikTok as a weapon to wage unrestricted warfare on the United States. This is why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) views TikTok as a “modern day Trojan Horse” and classified its powerful algorithm as a top secret “national security asset.”
TikTok’s constant stream of short and over-stimulating videos makes for a powerfully addictive source of propaganda. In a restricted Chinese academic journal, Colonel Dai Xu, a professor at China’s top military academy, wrote that the real battle between the United States and China is “information-driven mental warfare.” Another CCP journal stated, “Younger [People’s Liberation Army] propagandists increasingly realize the popularity of short videos online, and TikTok is the best example of this so far.”
Leading Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) strategist Zeng Huafeng argues that the CCP must use “information and popular spiritual and cultural products as weapons to influence people’s psychology, will, attitude, behavior and even change the ideology, values, cultural traditions and social systems.” According to Zeng, these cultural tools, including apps, video games, and films, should be used to “target individuals, groups, countries, and even people around the world.”
According to China’s military strategists, Beijing can in this way win “mind superiority,” by “cutting off historical memory,” “deconstructing [cultural] symbols,” and “perception manipulation” via propaganda spread on digital platforms like TikTok.
TikTok is a means of “subconscious messaging,” which Chinese strategists say is more effective that overtly political propaganda. “The ultimate goal is to manipulate a country’s values and achieve strategic goals without an actual overt military battle,” the PLA strategist added.
In an obscure CCP report titled, “Analysis of Modern Network Media Warfare in the Perspective of Intelligent Technology,” Beijing’s military strategists revealed that the best forms of propaganda work on young “impressible persons” through amusement.
“Entertainment is the main motivation for Generation Z content consumption,” said Peng Zhen-gang, the deputy director of the Propaganda Department, in another CCP military strategy paper titled “Research on International Communication Strategies and Practice Paths of Generation Z.” By better understanding those they mean to propagandize, the CCP can “explore effective communication strategies and paths, [and] improve the ability to set agendas.”
“Content control is becoming more important,” said CCP analyst Liu Ying, in “The Advantages, Predicaments, and Approaches of International Communication of “Polyphony: New Media,” noting that “emotional incitement . . . can affect public opinion more than facts and truth.”
The CCP funded research on “digital propaganda and opinion manipulation in social media platforms,” which found that “emotional content can easily lead the audience to have the illusion of ‘independent thinking’ and attribute irrational emotions to ‘righteous indignation’ or ‘empathy,’ which intensifies the value of delusion.”
Their goal is to “strengthen the overseas promotion of the Communist Party of China and guide the international community to form the correct [view of the Communist Party and of China],” according to top CCP propagandist Shen Haixiong.
A Chinese government study on online manipulation further noted that online propaganda is a “highly concealed propaganda method,” and “its effect can far exceed traditional propaganda.” The study’s authors say such propaganda could even “affect the social stability and political security of a target country or region.”
There is an endless supply of evidence that shows Chinese psychological warfare strategists have Americans, especially young Americans, in their crosshairs. They believe that not only is the American youth easier to influence through propaganda, but that its influence can last for generations.
Trump has great instincts on China. His brief makes clear that he understands at least some of the national security threats outlined above. But his mistreatment by American social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter under its previous ownership makes him a target for TikTok to seek out a sympathetic ear. The app allowed Trump’s presidential campaign to have unfettered access to crucial young voting demographics which Trump has acknowledged was beneficial.
Any favors TikTok might try to do for Trump will likely be short lived. His hawkish China agenda is deeply unpopular in Beijing, and the CCP will certainly use TikTok to undermine him. In short, TikTok desperately needs Trump. Trump does not need TikTok. In fact, TikTok’s allegiance to the CCP makes it inherently hostile to his agenda.
The CCP told us how they view the app: as a Trojan horse weapon and that should end the discussion. If Beijing refuses to sell TikTok to an American owner, then it must be banned.
Peter Schweizer is the president of the Government Accountability Institute, Breitbart Senior Contributor, and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans and Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win.
The post Exclusive—Peter Schweizer: Why Beijing Wants Americans to Keep Using TikTok appeared first on Breitbart.
