Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., voiced support for TikTok in her first video shared to the Chinese-owned platform following major national security concerns raised during a House hearing last week.
This is not only my first TikTok, but this is my first TikTok about TikTok. Now, this week, the CEO of TikTok came and testified before Congress as there is growing rumblings and discussion over a nationwide ban on the app. Do I believe TikTok should be banned? No," Ocasio-Cortez
In reaction to the video, an unnamed senior member of New York’s congressional delegation reportedly told the New York Post, "AOC clearly stands for ‘Ambassador of China.'"
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was challenged by U.S. lawmakers for allegedly downplaying the platform and its parent company ByteDance's ties to the Chinese Communist Party, as well as risks the algorithm poses for American children.
Despite members of Congress voicing bipartisan doubts about the platform's ability to safeguard Americans' privacy
Chew touted how the Texas Project purportedly will eventually safely store U.S. user data on American soil.
The United States has never before banned a social media company from existence, from operating in our borders, and this is an app that has over 150 million Americans on it."
Ocasio-Cortez argued the matter was more of a policy issue, noting how 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."
Some of the arguments about banning TikTok have come with respect to discussions around Chinese surveillance and utilization of data that is tracked and the enormous amount of tracking on U.S.