Anti-China TikTok Panic Derailed the Senate’s Big Tech Child Safety Hearing

During the last week of January, an important hearing was held in the Senate. The main topic of the session concerned the safety of minors within the social media sector, and featured the parents of young people who had died as a result of conflicts in the mentioned area.

Nevertheless, much of the discussion veered several times towards a strong feeling of panic concerning alleged Chinese propaganda perpetrated via Tiktok, with particular emphasis on its position within the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Leading representatives of various social networks currently in fashion shared their companies' intentions, emphasising what protective measures they would implement to protect underage users. However, the whole discourse took an unexpected turn at the mention of Tiktok, followed by rather pointed questions regarding the Chinese government's involvement in the sharing of data collected through the application itself.