- TikTok accounts operating on behalf of Chinese state media published content that criticized Republicans and favored Democrats ahead of the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, a Forbes investigation found.
- Despite TikTok rules requiring accounts to disclose their government ties, at least three Chinese government-affiliated accounts with millions of views did not clearly describe their status to users.
- “This opens a new dimension for conversation about TikTok,” Conor Healy, director of government research at surveillance research group IPVM, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Chinese communist TikTok accounts were used to smear Republican candidates and to build up Democrats an investigation by Forbes. found. Is anyone surprised at this? Numerous Democrats and some RINOs have made a fortune in China and they have been amply rewarded, especially by Joe Biden. Just another quid pro-Joe deal worked out behind the scenes. The Chinese have a lot to lose when Republicans are in charge. The same party still complaining about slavery that ended 157 years ago, refuses to complain about slavery in China today.
While the Chinese-owned social media app has verbally affirmed the need to crack down on election disinformation and foreign interference, several news-oriented accounts failed to disclose their affiliation with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) state-owned media on the platform, Forbes found. The accounts racked up tens of millions views on posts that covered divisive topics, such as abortion and race, as well as critical clips that mostly targeted Republican candidates ahead of the 2022 midterms.
“This opens a new dimension for a conversation about TikTok,” Conor Healy, director of government research at surveillance research group IPVM, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The accounts are managed by MediaLinks TV, which registered as a foreign agent for China with the Treasury Department in 2019 and distributes the U.S. branch of China Central Television (CCTV), CGTN, according to the company’s LinkedIn page. MediaLinks also operates the CCTV and CGTN apps, according to Apple.
The largest accounts are @Panadorama, @The…Optimist and @NewsTokss, the latter of which expressly covers U.S. national news, according to Forbes.
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNELNewsTokss in particular ran content that overall shone Republican politicians in an unfavorable light and praised Democrats, Forbes found.
Chinese company ByteDance owns TikTok, causing many people to believe they are tied to the communist Chinese government. This is why Republicans are calling for TikTok to be banned at government agencies and why the Democrats will never allow it. Technology and China researchers have long expressed concerns about China’s election interference via social media.
The cybersecurity firm Recorded Future warned ahead of the 2018 midterm elections found Chinese-run accounts:
“disseminating breaking news and biased content surrounding President Trump and China-related issues.”
