El ex-presidente ecuatoriano Rafael Correa difunde activamente retórica antiamericana y altera las instituciones democráticas de su país para su propio beneficio. Correa ha sido condenado por corrupción por parte de la Corte Nacional de Justicia de Ecuador. Los...
Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa actively spreads anti-American rhetoric and tampers with his homeland’s democratic institutions for his own benefit. Correa has been convicted of corruption by Ecuador’s National Court of Justice. U.S. Senators Marco Rubio...
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee recently determined that phenylephrine, an ingredient commonly used to treat sinus and nasal congestion, is ineffective in treating these symptoms. This was apparent from research for years, yet large...
El senador estadounidense Marco Rubio (R-FL) habló con César Grajales de La Poderosa 670 AM en El Panorama Político, sobre la crisis fronteriza, sobre cómo los hispanoamericanos se ven afectados con la realidad del país, sobre los cargos contra el senador Bob Menéndez...
Pregnant students are sometimes discriminated against by their schools, either intentionally or unintentionally and there is a concerning lack of awareness about the resources and rights available to them. Due to a lack of services and discrimination, these women may...
Currently, intelligence community civilians are subject to certain tax penalties for job-related relocation requirements, but active-duty military servicemembers are not subjected to the same penalties. These tax benefits, including the ability to deduct moving...
Miami, FL — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) sent a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin requesting the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to exercise its authority and launch a full review of the national security implications of TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly.
In the letter Rubio wrote, “TikTok, which has millions of active users across the U.S., is now ranked among the world’s most downloaded apps. There continues to be ample and growing evidence that TikTok’s platform for Western markets, including those in the U.S., is censoring content that is not in line with the Chinese Government and Communist Party directives.”
The full text of the letter is below.
Dear Secretary Mnuchin:
I write to express concern with regard to Chinese influence operations, including by the social media network, TikTok, a short-video app owned by the Chinese backed, ByteDance. According to reports, TikTok acquired Musical.ly, a video-sharing platform, without any oversight and relaunched the service for Western markets. These Chinese-owned apps are increasingly being used to censor content and silence open discussion on topics deemed sensitive by the Chinese Government and Communist Party. These topics include Tiananmen Square, Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other issues. I therefore request the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to exercise its authority and launch a full review of the national security implications of TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly.
TikTok, which has millions of active users across the U.S., is now ranked among the world’s most downloaded apps. There continues to be ample and growing evidence that TikTok’s platform for Western markets, including those in the U.S., is censoring content that is not in line with the Chinese Government and Communist Party directives. Last month, it was reported that TikTok instructed its moderators to actively censor certain videos. This came after questions as to why the app only had a few videos of the Hong Kong protests that have been dominating international headlines for months. The Chinese government’s nefarious efforts to censor information inside free societies around the world cannot be accepted and pose serious long-term challenges to the U.S. and our allies.
CFIUS should be commended for its recent work in this space against Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd, which took majority ownership of a dating app that contained user’s personal and sensitive data. Without intervention, there is no saying how this information would have been used by the Chinese government. What is known, the government of China is using these apps to advance their foreign policy and globally suppress freedom of speech, expression, and other freedoms that we as Americans so deeply cherish. Given the Chinese Government and Communist Party efforts to block content and undermine U.S. values, I urge that CFIUS launch a full and thorough national security review of TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly.
I appreciate your attention to this important matter and look forward to your response.
Sincerely,