CCP Censors Climate Discourse On America’s Biggest Social Media Platform
TikTok announced the platform will be celebrating Earth Day with the removal of “climate change denial videos” without defining “climate change denial.”
TikTok announced Wednesday the company will roll out the policy this week with users redirected to “authoritative information.”
“Trust and authenticity fuel the creativity of TikTok–and we believe we have an important role to play in empowering informed climate discussions on our platform,” the company said. “On April 21, we will begin to ramp up enforcement of a new climate change misinformation policy which removes climate change misinformation that undermines well-established scientific consensus, such as denying the existence of climate change or the factors that contribute to it.”
TikTok responded to The Federalist’s request to specify parameters for removal with a link to the platform’s integrity and authenticity page. The company website, however, offers broad descriptions of what qualifies as “misinformation.”
“We do not allow inaccurate, misleading, or false content that may cause significant harm to individuals or society, regardless of intent,” the website reads.
The new climate policy from the Chinese-owned company stands to benefit Beijing with the injection of left-wing commentary over climate change as the only narrative available on one of America’s most dominant social media platforms. If TikTok follows suit with how rival tech giants have censored climate content deemed “denialism,” and there’s no reason to believe it will not, then videos that express skepticism of imminent planetary self-destruction by runaway emissions will face removal.
The liberal narrative on climate change is a boon to Beijing, eager to capitalize on America’s subsidized demand for carbon-free technology. Red China dominates in solar panel and wind turbine manufacturing, while the communist party maintains a global monopoly on the mineral refinement necessary to produce electric vehicles. The world’s leading polluter profits off America’s obsession with the “climate crisis” through sales of “clean” technology and the economic handicap Washington lawmakers embrace with billion-dollar climate packages.
In a statement to The Federalist, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who proposed legislation to ban TikTok across the U.S., called the platform a national security threat.
“Censorship is the norm for Chinese tech companies,” Rubio said, “but it’s notable that TikTok’s censorship program is now pandering to the Biden Administration’s climate goals. No one should be fooled by this stunt.”
“TikTok is a well-documented national security threat that should not be allowed to operate in the United States,” Rubio added.
Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley told The Federalist the app “should’ve been banned in America a long time ago.”
“TikTok is [a] tool for the CCP to spy on Americans and push whatever agenda they want,” Hawley said.
Lawmakers grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in the House Energy and Commerce Committee last month over the company operating as a weapon of surveillance for the Chinse Communist Party.
“TikTok spied on American journalists,” said Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who chairs the committee. “Can you say with 100% certainty that neither ByteDance nor TikTok employees can target other Americans with similar surveillance techniques?”
“I disagree with the characterization that it was spying,” Shou said.
The company executive also conceded that TikTok’s Chinese engineers have access to American data.
Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at [email protected]. Sign up for Tristan’s email newsletter here.
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