TikTok, the popular social media mobile app under the control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is coming under direct attack from House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), who called for a complete federal ban on the platform he described as “digital fentanyl.”
The wildly popular app has come under scrutiny this year as an alleged national security threat being exploited by the Chinese to scoop up data and spy on Americans.
Rep. Mike Gallagher: TikTok is like 'digital fentanyl' for users pic.twitter.com/fU2VTZvrrv
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) November 30, 2022
In an appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” on Tuesday evening, Gallagher told host Laura Ingraham that it is important to eradicate TikTok from America because “it’s digital fentanyl in the sense that it’s highly addictive, it’s also therefore deadly.”
In addition to the national security risk, he added that “our youth are at risk of increased isolation, suicide, depression, anxiety – those numbers are through the roof.”
He also noted that TikTok is like fentanyl in that the “precursors date back to China.”
TikTok is wholly owned by the China-based corporation ByteDance. That company in turn is effectively completely controlled by the CCP. Gallagher noted that the app could allow the CCP to “track your location, collect your keystrokes, and also censor your news.” He pointed out that many young Americans now use TikTok as a primary source of news.
Gallagher said TikTok has even infiltrated Congress, “hiring an army of former members of Congress, senators, Democrats, Republicans, staffers, spending $7 million last year in order to lobby on their behalf, exploiting the loopholes in our lobbying laws which are very weak right now.”
Ingraham noted that President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were “onto this early on and they knew we should not be doing business with them.” She also asked how lawmakers can “trust China on anything,” pointing out the CCP has “hundreds of thousands of people in reeducation camps tonight.”
Gallagher responded by observing that China’s “so-called wolf warrior diplomats are all over American social media companies spreading propaganda, attacking the United States.”
Gallagher has been working with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to spearhead a Congressional investigation into the operation of TikTok inside the U.S.
The pair of GOP lawmakers are planning to introduce legislation in both houses of Congress to ban TikTok from being downloaded and used domestically.
