Witness Sounds Alarms On China’s Use Of TikTok To ‘Change The Social Narrative In Our Country’

Forbes Breaking News

During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last week, Mark Montgomery, CCTI Senior Director and Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, sounded alarms on China’s use of TikTok.

Transcript

00:00You mentioned that in some of your remarks, and we were looking at this negotiation that's going on,

00:07which is, you know, negotiation is always a good thing. Talking is always a good thing.

00:12But how would you categorize Putin's response to these negotiations?

00:18The offer at Istanbul last week was an insult to President Trump.

00:23President Trump has told President Putin several times, come to the table with a serious deal,

00:27and he's told them, stop doing the, you know, Vladimir, stop doing the bombing.

00:31I thought there was a potential this time there would be a reasonable response.

00:34But instead, it was, you know, just a laundry list of every illegitimate Russian claim to Ukraine

00:43and every ridiculous request that they basically neuter themselves, demilitarize, and take no Western support.

00:50It was an absolute insult to President Trump, who has given President Putin more than enough time to come to the right answer.

00:57Great. My time has expired. I yield back.

01:00And now recognize the representative from Nevada, Ms. Tybus.

01:13The Trump administration was not the one that eliminated the Global Engagement Center,

01:19but rather you pointing in this direction.

01:22And I said it wasn't me, but you meant Congress simply allowed it to expire.

01:26Now, the White House Republicans did indeed refuse to include the extension of the Sunset

01:33in the FYI National Defense Authorization Act, and based on some since-debunked conspiracy theories.

01:39But the Biden administration tried to keep their work going by putting this mandate

01:45in the State Department's Counter-Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Office, the RFIMI.

01:52Now, unfortunately, then, on April the 16th, Secretary Rubio announced the closure of that office

02:00as a way to, and I quote, champion free speech.

02:03Now, since you asserted that Congress failed in its decision to not reauthorize the GEC,

02:10do you also believe that the Trump administration failed in its decision to close the RFIMI?

02:17So, and I know your staff will go do more research, and you'll read that I've written three articles

02:22condemning the closure of the Global Engagement Center and President Trump's closure of this.

02:27I absolutely believe we need to counter disinformation.

02:31The closure of the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Information, FBI,

02:37and Department of Homeland Security's disinformation shops was equally reckless by this administration.

02:42So I absolutely think that we should be looking for disinformation.

02:46Russia and China are aggressively conducting cyber-enabled economic warfare

02:52and influence operations campaigns against this country.

02:54One final thing I'll say is, the most deleterious, worst information operations campaign going

03:01on in this country is the use of TikTok.

03:03TikTok, you and Congress properly banned it last year.

03:07President Biden signed it into law.

03:09TikTok is being used by China to change the social narrative in our country,

03:14to convince the 180 million 18- to 35-year-olds who use it that the United States is not a great country,

03:21that China's suppression of Uyghurs is okay, that China's suppression of Taiwan is okay,

03:27that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is okay, and that Hamas's terrorist act against Israel is okay.

03:34TikTok needs to be banned.

03:35To me, that's the worst disinformation operation, but I agree we do completely that we need a global –

03:41something like the Global Engagement Center.

03:43I've argued for it for about two and a half years now.

03:45I was just pointing out that the actual problem was Congress failing to reauthorize it.

03:51I just wanted the record to clearly show who all was responsible and what the whole context in the story was.

03:58And if I – if you weren't answering it the way I had hoped you would,

04:01I'd take offense that you think my staff has to do my research, but you can write your own books.

04:06But thank you for that answer.

04:09I now recognize the representative from Illinois, Mr. Schneider.

04:13Thank you, Chairman Self.

04:14And before I do ask my question –

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