A DOJ lawsuit: TikTok may influence elections
TikTok may influence elections according to a filing with the Department of Justice, and evidence is being gathered against this Chinese social network.
Allowing TikTok to continue to be operated by its current parent company could enable the Chinese government to covertly influence U.S. elections.
This was an assertion by the Justice Department in a court filing late Friday.
In a federal appeals court filing, prosecutors raised concerns that TikTok’s algorithm could be used in a campaign of “covert manipulation,” and in that sense, TikTok can influence elections.
“Among other things, it would allow a foreign government to unlawfully interfere with our political system and political discourse, including our elections,” the prosecutors wrote.
The filing added: “If, for example, the Chinese government were to determine that the outcome of a particular U.S. election is sufficiently important to Chinese interests.”
“Allowing the Chinese government to be able to use TikTok to maximum effect at a time of extreme importance presents an unacceptable threat to national security,” the prosecutors wrote.
It comes in response to a federal lawsuit TikTok filed against the U.S. government in May in an attempt to block a law that could ban the application nationwide.
That law, which President Joe Biden signed in April, says TikTok must find a new owner by mid-January 2025 or it will be banned entirely in the United States.
But the investigation has an apparently strong proposition about TikTok being able to influence elections.
TikTok may influence elections
Friday’s lawsuit marks the first time the federal government has responded to the lawsuit. The legal battle could determine whether U.S. security concerns about TikTok’s ties to China can trump the First Amendment rights of TikTok’s 170 million U.S. users.
In their lawsuit, TikTok and Bytedance say the U.S. law is unconstitutional because it violates free speech rights and prevents Americans from accessing lawful information.
Senior justice officials, speaking about the filing, said the Justice Department is concerned about any attempt by the People’s Republic of China, or PRC, to “weaponize technology,” in apps and software that are run on phones used in the U.S.
So far there is no ruling, but in the government’s view, there are more than obvious reasons to think that TikTok may influence the election.
One official said those concerns are “compounded when those autocratic nations require and compel, as the PRC does, companies under their control to hand over confidential data to the Chinese government in secret.”
Friday’s filing makes clear that law enforcement officials believe TikTok could, and in some cases has, followed instructions from the Chinese government.
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