While Americans gear up for a long presidential political season, Communist China is weaponizing technology against America and the rest of the world.
China’s efforts to weaponize technology like AI and TikTok against the U.S. have become increasingly clear heading into a presidential election. It’s so obviously dangerous that even New York City officials have banned Chinese-owned TikTok from government-issued devices amid growing and bipartisan security concerns over the app’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to The Verge reporting on August 16. The move comes after the CCP’s interim regulations requiring artificial intelligence (AI) to uphold “socialist core values” went into effect.
New York City’s decision followed a NYC Cyber Command review that concluded that TikTok “posed a security threat to the city’s technical networks,” The Verge reported. A spokesperson for the city’s government defended the decision, saying, “While social media is great at connecting New Yorkers with one another and the city, we have to ensure we are always using these platforms in a secure manner.” It is a start, but TikTok needs to be more seriously addressed than that.
This ban marks another blow to the CCP, which, according to The Washington Times, unleashed on August 15 interim regulations forcing generative AI content to uphold socialist core values. The Cyberspace Administration of China and seven other agencies, including the CCP’s police ministry, approved the legislation. China aims to be a global AI leader and lists 100 AI companies allegedly rivaling America’s popular ChatGPT, per The Times.
New York City is the latest governmental entity to target TikTok, even as the state of Montana is sued for its TikTok ban. The CCP owns a board seat and maintains a financial stake in TikTok’s parent company ByteDance. “New York state banned TikTok on state-issued devices back in 2020 through an internal policy barring its download and use on government-owned devices,” The Verge noted.
Indeed, whistleblower testimony and other terrifying evidence demonstrates a clear risk from TikTok, including the CCP’s sinister access to user data. Not only that, but TikTok has been caught censoring content to please the Chinese Communist Party before.
Fox News China expert Gordon Chang previously told MRC Free Speech America in exclusive comments that AI regulation is part of the CCP’s desire for “control” and international dominance. “The implications would be that it would be very difficult to propagate notions supporting democracy,” Chang added. “You’d have only China-sponsored messages…it’s freedom versus totalitarianism.” The CCP is totalitarian, Chang emphasized. “They want to have great AI…but they want it to further their goals of control.”
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