On Wednesday, a story was published in The Washington Post that Meta, Facebook’s parent company, paid the GOP-aligned public relations firm Targeted Victory to “malign” TikTok.
Different opinions exist about ethics. The Post writes, “placing op-eds and letters to the editor in major regional news outlets, promoting dubious stories about alleged TikTok trends that actually originated on Facebook, and pushing to draw political reporters and local politicians into helping take down its biggest competitor.”
Tik Tok poses a real threat to American children and is a security risk.
Meta’s attempt to expose the truth makes it look worse, but it is still a good thing for them. @TargetedVictoryIt is worth exposing. https://t.co/AG8CyhOoxw
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) March 30, 2022
Whitlock is likely referring to the fact that TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is headquartered in China and has been scrutinized for its ties to the Chinese Communist Party for years. Yes, it’s entirely possible that all those dancing teens and pronoun-ed teachers are feeding their videos back to the CCP.
US officials have been assessing TikTok’s relationship with China for years. In 2020, President Trump attempted to ban — and then force a sale — of TikTok’s US app. President Biden signed an executive order revoking Trump’s efforts in June, writing that the government should evaluate national security threats from foreign apps through “rigorous, evidence-based analysis.”
As the Chinese government began cracking down on tech companies within its own borders last year, concerns around TikTok’s relationship with the country remained among US officials, experts said.
…
TikTok isn’t available in China, and its CEO and COO are based in Singapore and Los Angeles. But current and former employees told Insider that employees in ByteDance’s Beijing office, referred to internally as “HQ,” often have final say over product decisions for the app.
“It’s that feeling a little bit in the US where you’re sort of helpless to a lot of the decisions that are made out of China,” a former staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid damaging professional relationships, told Insider last month.
So why then does American Federation of Teachers head Randi Weingarten take such an interest in protecting TikTok from mean old Mark Zuckerberg when, per her own argument, he’s engaging in competitve behavior via a PR firm that companies (and politicians) routinely pay big money for.
Here’s a thread Weingarten took time to write culminating in a demand that Facebook apologize to “America’s teachers, students, and parents”.
I was astonished to discover that social media platforms were responsible for the content of problematic posts. But now, I understand it’s their business model encouraging much of this to happen https://t.co/e2r797uBHY
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) March 31, 2022
She mentions, however, a story about a woman named “Susie”. VergeTikTok’s role as an unfortunate pawn in misinformation is shown in the magazine. Some schools were shut down due to false and unspecified threats.
Threats made to TikTok could be self-perpetuating. TikTok posts videos warning others not to attend school December 17, citing alleged bombing threats or shootings. This may have inspired others to make similar videos. A new series of warning videos has been posted to TikTok, warning others that they should not attend school on December 17th due to alleged threats of shootings or bombings. These are based both on the claimed claims as well as the factual cancelling of certain classes.
TikTok said it had not found any specific videos that made threats. “We have not found evidence of such threats originating or spreading via TikTok,” the company wrote in a tweet Thursday afternoon. TikTok said it is working with law enforcement to look into the warnings with “utmost seriousness,” nonetheless.
Weingarten finds this disturbing because he sees Facebook as a bully business trying to crush competition and disparage an already struggling platform.
Facebook’s response yesterday to spreading fear among parents, teachers, and school communities was to defend what they did. Facebook’s action was disgraceful, as we think that every platform should be monitored. pic.twitter.com/RV3FkXbWf4
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) March 31, 2022
One would think Ms. Weingarten — whose job title would indicate her time would be better spent engaged in and trying to assuage the turmoil currently enveloping American schools — would have more things on her plate to worry about than if one tech platform has crossed anti-competitive lines.
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