Tik Tok meddles in elections of other countries including India, say US Senators

Lawmakers also applaud New Delhi's ban on the social media platform which is highly popular among teenagers and youths

Washington: Ahead of a looming ban on TikTok in the United States, US senators have alleged that the Chinese Communist Party-owned platform has interfered in the elections of various countries, including India. A group of lawmakers has called for extending the deadline to shut it down.

Participating in a debate on TikTok, the lawmakers also applauded India’s ban on the social media platform which is highly popular among teenagers and youths.

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As per a law signed by President Joe Biden a year ago, TikTok faces a ban from US app stores unless the Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd. divests its American arm by January 19.

“TikTok meddles in the politics of other countries by amplifying divisive content in for instance, Israel, India and of course America. Don’t forget that TikTok harvests a vast trove of user data including name age, email address, phone number, credit card number, facial features, voice prints, keystrokes photos, videos and viewing habits,” Senator Tom Cotton said on the Senate floor on Wednesday.

“We have seen TikTok’s interference in elections elsewhere around the world. Most recently in Romania. The European Commission just opened an investigation into TikTok’s failure to limit election interference in Romania’s election and that has caused all sorts of disruption in that country,” Senator Pete Ricketts said.

“India has banned TikTok for the very same reason that they are seeing the push of Chinese propaganda that slants on their news media the same way we see it here in America,” Ricketts said on the Senate floor.

There are 170 million TikTok users in the US. Senators Ron Wyden, Edward Markey, Cory Booker, and Indian American Congressman Ro Khanna, — all Democrats — have joined in introducing bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would delay the January 19 deadline by an additional 270 days when ByteDance must sell TikTok or face a ban.

“The rushed divestment of TikTok is a huge giveaway to Donald Trump and his cronies, who are poised to scoop up a massive social media company and turn it into another partisan mouthpiece,” Wyden said.

“Extending the deadline to sell TikTok will allow Congress to consider better ways to mitigate threats from China, courts to review the law, and additional bidders to make proposals to acquire TikTok with more time for public scrutiny,” he added.

“A ban on TikTok violates the free speech of 170 million Americans and hurts the livelihoods of creators and small business owners who use the app,” said Khanna. “We need laws to protect Americans’ data, but banning TikTok is not the answer,” Khanna said.