TikTok’s terrible, no good, very bad day

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew arrived for a hearing on Capitol Hill yesterday with his company facing a forced sale or a ban in the US. In other words, it was an important day for Chew and his company: a chance to put the best case forward for TikTok’s continued existence in America.

Chew assembled a formidable force for his Congressional D-Day. TikTok has paid for the best in the business if that business is getting Democratic administrations to do what you want: retaining SKDK, the lobbying firm founded by top…

TikTok’s terrible, no good, very bad day

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew arrived for a hearing on Capitol Hill yesterday with his company facing a forced sale or a ban in the US. In other words, it was an important day for Chew and his company: a chance to put the best case forward for TikTok’s continued existence in America.

Chew assembled a formidable force for his Congressional D-Day. TikTok has paid for the best in the business if that business is getting Democratic administrations to do what you want: retaining SKDK, the lobbying firm founded by top Biden advisor Anita Dunn. They also have progressive lawmaker Jamaal Bowman on their side. He was happy to stand on the steps of the Capitol, call TikTok’s critics racist and accuse Republicans of “having no swag” (sick burn!) as a few people waved pro-TikTok signs. A battalion of influencers were dispatched to Washington too. They arrived on the Hill to claim that a ban threatened their livelihoods and right to free expression. They also did some other helpful things, like shouting “Twink” in the Capitol rotunda.

Also working in Chew’s favor: a number of helpfully gullible members of the press. You will be shocked, for example, to discover that “TikTok Dave” at the Washington Post, author of Make A TikTok Every Day, isn’t too worried about the national security implications of the app’s Chinese ownership. For TikTok Dave, this hearing was McCarthyism… or something. Meanwhile, the disinformation-reporter crowd, who have spent six years worrying about Russian-funded Facebook ads in 2016, seem oddly relaxed about the possibility that the Chinese Communist Party might be influencing content on the app, or the demonstrated failure of the app to keep its data protection promises, or the fact that legislation in China means that ByteDance can be compelled to hand over data about Americans to Chinese authorities.

But if Chew thought that the influencers who cried “Twink,” the TikTokking Posties and the democratic socialist screaming “racism” would save him from a bipartisan roasting in his testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, he would quickly realize his mistake. His sophisticated, multi-pronged strategy did not stop an anti-TikTok free-for-all in the committee room. The lawmakers questions made clear the growing hostility towards the platform in Washington. Chew’s own answers, meanwhile, made clear how weak TikTok’s defense is. Chew was desperate to appear open to any concession that might avoid a forced sale or ban. He was unable to give lawmakers the assurances they asked for on data security and national security concerns. And in a range of other answers, such as in response to a question on the Uighur genocide, he hardly seemed capable of demonstrating his and his company’s independence from Chinese authorities.

The more we see of TikTok’s defense, the weaker it looks. There is nothing to fear about data being held in China, insists the company’s spokespeople, which is why we are now committing to storing all of our data in the United States. Meanwhile, Chew took many chances yesterday to make clear just how popular TikTok is in the United States. He claims 150 million Americans use the app. That number seems massively inflated, but as committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers pointed out, “When you celebrate the 150 million American users on TikTok, it emphasizes the urgency for Congress to act.”

For all the hostility on display in Washington yesterday, a ban is still something that the Biden administration has shown some hesitancy about. The White House has dragged its feet on the question of what to do about TikTok and it now looks like its preferred option is a forced sale. But the administration has also endorsed bipartisan legislation that would give the Commerce Department the power to ban the app that endangers Americans’ security. The Chinese regime responded to yesterday’s hearing by voicing its firm opposition to a forced sale of TikTok. This ratcheting up on the issue is a sign of the perhaps unstoppable momentum building towards at least a sale, if not a ban of the app — something that Chew’s appearance on the Hill did nothing to halt.

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FETTERMAN WILL BE BACK ‘SOON’ Five weeks on from John Fetterman’s hospitalization for severe depression, his team say he will be back in the Senate ‘soon,’ though could not offer a specific timeline.

PARIS IS BURNING French anger at Emmanuel Macron’s decision to raise the retirement age show no sign of abating. Rioters fought with the police and started fires. How do you know things are serious? King Charles has canceled a planned trip across the Channel.

Waiting for Alvin

Often during the Trump administration, political sagas took on the feel of absurdist stage theater. So it was with the Robert Mueller investigation, with Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell sitting under a leafless tree waiting in tedious vain for an indictment. And so it is now with Alvin Bragg’s looming big move.

It’s bizarre, isn’t it? We here in the political media have been waiting all week for Donald Trump to get arrested, yet it’s Friday afternoon and still no dice. There hasn’t even been an indictment let alone a perp walk. Rumors swirl that one is coming tomorrow, next week, but then we’ve been hearing that for days now and only France is burning.

During the Trump administration, it was liberals who ginned up this suspense. “Tick tock!” they smirked from their Twitter accounts, insisting it was only a matter of time until the orange man put on an orange jumpsuit. Yet in a twist, this time it was Trump himself who heralded the arrest and thus had everyone checking their watches. The result has been that we’ve spent another week talking about him — and he must be just devastated about that.

–Matt Purple

Sinema sounds off

Arizona maverick Kyrsten Sinema has been ruffling feathers this week, after taking a scalpel to the caucus lunches she used to have to attend while a Democrat. “Old dudes are eating Jell-O, everyone is talking about how great they are,” the independent senator told a group of GOP lobbyists, according to Politico magazine. “The Northerners and the Westerners put cool whip on their Jell-O, and the Southerners put cottage cheese.” A moderate Democratic colleague told the same reporter that Sinema is “the biggest egomaniac in the Senate.” Some honor!

Further proving her independent streak, Sinema has finally changed payment processors, from ActBlue to Anedot, a competitor used mostly by independents and Republicans. Her move comes four months after reporting from The Spectator’s Matthew Foldi which pointed out that Sinema’s switch from (D) to (I) put her in breach of ActBlue’s “Democrat-only” rule.

–Cockburn