FDD FILES AMICUS BRIEF ON TIKTOK CASE

WASHINGTON, D.C., August  3, 2024 – FDD filed a comprehensive amicus brief on August 2 in the U.S. DC Court of Appeals case of TikTok Inc. and ByteDance v Merrick Garland — in support of the government against TikTok’s attempt to challenge the recently passed law that forces the sale of TikTok from its Chinese Communist Party (CCP)  overseers or risk an outright ban.

The 28-page “friend of the court” brief details how TikTok’s current ownership structure has enabled the CCP to infiltrate the company and dictate the kinds of information it obtains from Americans and stores in China, thereby threatening  U.S. national security.  This data includes information about children, which is protected by federal law; viewers who watch LGBTQ+ material; and even driver’s licenses and other personal information of TikTok users. 

Beyond TikTok’s surveilling Americans (including journalists), FDD shows the Court how Beijing uses the platform to manipulate the kinds of news and information users receive at the Chinese government’s behest, interfere in U.S. elections, and prepare for “cognitive combat” (psychological warfare) — reinforcing the argument that a forced sale is constitutional.

The People’s Republic of China’s weaponization of TikTok and other social media platforms is just now being understood, and FDD has been at the forefront of this issue.  The amicusbrief quoted research by FDD China Program Director Craig Singleton, which describes China’s billion-dollars-a-year campaign to build and deploy its cognitive warfare capacities:

“On a basic level, Beijing’s discourse strategy seeks to alter global perceptions about Chinese autocracy and Western democracy . . . .  In its most extreme form, called “cognitive domain warfare” by China’s People’s Liberation Army, the CCP uses discourse power to influence individual and/or group behaviors to favor Beijing’s tactical or strategic objectives.  This can be achieved by sowing social division, undermining faith in public institutions, introducing conflicting social narratives, and radicalizing groups within a population.” 

Singleton and FDD Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation Senior Director Mark Montgomery produced research that supported the development of the bipartisan law that is being challenged. FDD China Program Chairman Matt Pottinger has also provided multiple expert testimonies on this issue before Congress. The “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” which became law in April, requires TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the social media company to owners that respect U.S. laws and values or the company will be banned from operating in the U.S.

Insights from Craig Singleton:

• “Under the strict oversight of the Chinese Communist Party, TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, serve not merely as tech companies, but as integral components of China’s military-intelligence complex, posing clear threats to U.S. national security.”
• “Xi Jinping has emphasized that short-video platforms, like TikTok, are central to China’s global influence operations, strategically crafted to sow discord and undermine democratic governance. With the U.S. election approaching, the imperative to neutralize these powerful tools of the Chinese Communist Party has never been more urgent.”

Insights from Rear Adm. (Ret.) Mark Montgomery:

• “This is about ByteDance as much as it is Tik-Tok. ByteDance is a Chinese powerhouse beholden to the CCP‘s leadership, subject to Chinese state intelligence and surveillance laws, and constant intrusions from the Chinese security services.”
• “This effort is not about banning Tik-Tok but rather decoupling this social media platform from Chinese state control. The CCP cannot purchase and use other information mediums such as broadcast TV and newspapers to conduct their malign influence operations. So why should they be able to use the TikTok platform to spew forth foreign disinformation and threaten  U.S. national security, and that of our allies?”

For more details on the way adversaries of the United States are waging an information war against Americans, see the recent FDD Monograph, “Cognitive Combat.”

To arrange an interview with Craig Singleton or Mark Montgomery, please contact FDD media relations at [email protected]. 

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About the Foundation for Defense of Democracies: 

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