‘What A Coincidence’: Massive Donations Come To Light After AOC Defends TikTok From Possible Ban

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez( D-NY ) has accepted sizable donations from ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of the social media platform TikTok, which the democratic socialist recently defended from a potential nationwide ban.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, a nonprofit organization that received$ 150,000 from ByteDance at the end of last year, has Ocasio-Cortez on its advisory committee, according to Jake Denton, an expert in technology policy at The Heritage Foundation. What a fluke, Denton remarked on social media.

A ban on the platform due to national security and privacy concerns, according to Ocasio-Cortez, may be” unprecedented” and would not” really treat the core of the issue, which is that major social media companies are permitted to get troves of highly specific information about you that you do not understand about.” She continued by saying that social media companies do therefore receive a comprehensive data protection bill from lawmakers.

She said that regulators should” actually protect Americans from this kind of egregious data harvesting that companies can do without your significant ability to say no ,” adding that” the United States is one of the only developed nations in the world that has no significant data or privacy protection laws on the books.”

TikTok has also been openly defended by Rep. Jamaal Bowman( D-NY ). While his family Melissa Oppenheimer has worked with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which already received$ 150, 000 from ByteDance, he is a member of the group.

According to Bowman, TikTok has given 150 million Americans — and counting— a community and a place to express themselves freely. Additionally, it is a location where 5 million small businesses are operating and selling their goods and products.

In the midst of deteriorating ties between the United States and China, previous President Donald Trump considered banning TikTok at the end of his words. Following reports that ByteDance workers in China used the system to track the whereabouts of particular National users, President Joe Biden and some say officials have banned TikTok from public devices.

Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, vowed that ByteDance is not an” agent of China or any other place” when he testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee next month about how much power and influence Chinese officials still have over the latter.

” I am also convinced that the fact that ByteDance was founded by Chinese people has raised questions about whether or not our system could be used as a tool by China or the Chinese Communist Party.” According to the executive, there have even been calls to boycott us or demand withdrawal. Since a change in ownership wouldn’t implement any new limitations on data moves or get,” Does does not address the fundamental issues that I have heard.” This is not a citizenship situation.

However, when pressed by politicians, Chew was unable to give a definitive response regarding whether people connected to ByteDance assisted him in preparing for his testimony. He acknowledged that the lawyers who represent TikTok equally represent ByteDance.