While President Donald Trump’s moral leadership on the world stage is welcome in Gaza and other areas of the world, his capitulation to TikTok and the Chinese Communist Party is still a glaring flaw.
TikTok has been returned to the Apple and Google app stores after being assured by Attorney General Pam Bondi that they would not face fines for platforming the app. It is another deliberate undermining of the law passed by Congress that required TikTok to cut ties with CCP-allied Chinese company ByteDance, after Trump gave the app a 75-day extension in seeking a deal.
Apple and Google had previously removed TikTok from the app store at the deadline imposed by the law despite Trump’s Executive Order extension. The extension itself is of dubious legal merit, as Trump has no authority to unilaterally extend the deadline set by Congress. Yet, Trump has pushed ahead anyway, with his grand proposal for resolving this being a joint ownership venture that would still allow the Chinese government and ByteDance to control the app.
But that would be untenable, as TikTok cannot adhere to both the CCP’s demands that it give all data to the Chinese government and American data protection. The Chinese government and ByteDance have doggedly opposed any sale or ban on TikTok because it is a useful Chinese surveillance tool, and its algorithm manipulates American users with propaganda that is pro-Chinese propaganda, anti-American, and promotes anti-social behavior.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The fact remains that every Chinese-owned tech company is beholden to the Chinese government, which poses a national security risk and spreads Chinese propaganda to global users. That includes the recent Chinese artificial intelligence tool DeepSeek, which rose to the top of app stores in the U.S. and has its cloud computing supplied by a company designated by the Department of Defense as a “Chinese military company.”
Trump’s biggest blind spot remains his best efforts to undermine Congress by keeping TikTok running. Going to the mat for China’s spyware app proves that China can influence U.S. policy and manipulate politicians (including the president) with social media influence operations disguised as goofy dancing apps that young people are convinced they can’t live without. Trump’s weakness in the face of China and ByteDance exposes a vulnerability in his presidency, and it is one that China will surely take advantage of moving forward.