TikTok, the social media app controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, was a threat to the health of Americans and national security. But The View’s moderator, Whoopi Goldberg didn’t seem to care as she threw out some major whataboutisms and argued that America and its social media companies had their own problems to work out before they could force parent company ByteDance to sell. This wasn’t the first time the ABC host stood with China against America.
“Is it smart to sell TikTok in an environment where all of the things that we're -- all the concerns we're talking about are not concerns we are protecting here?” Goldberg wanted to know.
Self-described conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin noted that, yes, American “social media companies have major private issues… But they get brought before Congress and there's a level of accountability and public outcry.”
Adding: “We have no oversight because this is the Chinese Communist Party and we've seen radicalization. We've seen people teed up within minutes of being on the app, young people exposed to, you know, things related to eating disorders.” But Goldberg was unpersuaded by reason; “But don't we have the same issues?!” she doubled down.
Staunchly racist and anti-Semitic co-host, Sunny Hostin (the descendant of slave owners) was her usual unhinged self and blamed the Supreme Court for all the issues with social media companies and suggested they were responsible for Section 230 of the Communications Act (Click “expand”):
HOSTIN: To your point, Whoopi. Yes, we do have the same issue, and the reason why because the same issue is because the Supreme Court decided that it was okay to not allow -- to not have these companies, these social media companies have accountability. Right?
GOLDBERG: That’s right. That’s right. Say it again.
HOSTIN: It’s Section 230 of the Communications Act, and what it does, it says, “You know, I know that meta has all these horrible algorithms and I know Instagram is making our kids sick, but you are not really doing it. You're just a host. Other people are posting content. So, those people may be, you know, liable.”
Hostin also decried the First Amendment. “By the way, it's really hard to make anyone liable about someone -- something they say or do because of free speech in this country. So, yes, to your point, you are right, we don't have that many securities,” she whined.
“But the question remains, I mean, if we don't have anything in place or ready to protect us now with the things that are here now, with them coming in and buying it, what protections do we have?” Goldberg tripled down.
Co-host Sara Haines argued that forcing the selling of TikTok would take it “out of an adversary's hands.” Meanwhile, Farah Griffin reminded them of “the Osama Bin Laden letter that went viral on TikTok. That didn't go viral anywhere else. There is a unique ugly playing field of TikTok where people are hearing things that are dangerous and divisive and it's tearing us apart.”
Goldberg responded with a massive whataboutism about radicalization already happening in the U.S.:
GOLDBERG: Kind of like here but – because we've seen people get manipulated into joining groups, supremacy groups.
HAINES: It’s not going to go away –
GOLDBERG: Well, before we buy it – before we allow them to buy it, we need to fix the law.
Instead of allowing anyone to respond, Goldberg instead teed up Farah Griffin to promote a Disney+ stream of a Taylor Swift concert.
This wasn’t the first time Goldberg had gone to the mat for the Chi Coms. In 2023, she defended China’s spy balloon surveilling U.S. military bases. “We spy on them. They spy on us,” she proclaimed.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
March 14, 2024
11:06:05 a.m. Eastern(…)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Is it smart to sell TikTok in an environment where all of the things that we're -- all the concerns we're talking about are not concerns we are protecting here?
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Yes, because all of the social media –
SUNNY HOSTIN: Good question.
GOLDBERG: Thank you!
FARAH GRIFFIN: It is a great question.
GOLDBERG: Thank you.
FARAH GRIFFIN: All the social media companies have major private issues, Meta, Google, all of them. But they get brought before Congress and there's a level of accountability and public outcry. We have no oversight because this is the Chinese Communist Party and we've seen radicalization. We've seen people teed up within minutes of being on the app, young people exposed to, you know, things related to eating disorders.
GOLDBERG: But don't we have the same issues?!
SUNNY HOSTIN: To your point, Whoopi. Yes, we do have the same issue and the reason why because the same issue is because the Supreme Court decided that it was okay to not allow -- to not have these companies, these social media companies have accountability. Right?
GOLDBERG: That’s right. That’s right. Say it again.
HOSTIN: It’s Section 230 of the Communications Act, and what it does, it says, “You know, I know that meta has all these horrible algorithms and I know Instagram is making our kids sick, but you are not really doing it. You're just a host. Other people are posting content. So, those people may be, you know, liable.”
By the way, it's really hard to make anyone liable about someone -- something they say or do because of free speech in this country. So, yes, to your point, you are right, we don't have that many securities.
[Crosstalk]
JOY BEHAR: I'm not on TikTok. I'm on Lipitor.
[Laughter]
Let me just say this, the one thing that interests me about this topic and it's very boring to me, I have to say -- source.
HOSTIN: She said that during the hot topics meeting.
BEHAR: TikTok, and I don’t care. I’m not on it.
(…)
11:09:17 a.m. Eastern
GOLDBERG: But the question remains, I mean, if we don't have anything in place or ready to protect us now with the things that are here now, with them coming in and buying it, what protections do we have –
HOSTIN: Even if it becomes and American company.
[Crosstalk]
SARA HAINES: [Inaudible] out of an adversary's hands. I don’t –
FARAH GRIFFIN: It is worse though. We all remember the Osama Bin Laden letter that went viral on TikTok. That didn't go viral anywhere else. There is a unique ugly playing field of TikTok where people are hearing things that are dangerous and divisive and its tearing us apart.
GOLDBERG: Kind of like here but – because we've seen people get manipulated into joining groups, supremacy groups.
HAINES: It’s not going to go away –
GOLDBERG: Well, before we buy it – before we allow them to buy it, we need to fix the law.
(…)
