2023-07-10 20:08:00
Social media platform “cognitive warfare”: French senators call for Tiktok ban
A French investigative committee is calling for a further ban on Tiktok
© Yui Mok / PA Wire / DPA
A ban on Tiktok is being discussed in the French Senate. A committee of inquiry complained, among other things, about the non-transparent connections to China. Its content is “unilaterally in favor of the Chinese authorities”.
French MPs call for ban on social media platform’Tiktok”. A Senate investigative committee published a 180-page report in which it warned of the dangers of the network. According to the senators, Tiktok could pose a “threat to France’s national security”. This is reported, among other things, by the magazine “heise.de “.
France: Committee of inquiry wants to expand Tiktok ban
In the paper, titled “Opacity, Addiction, and Chinese Shadows,” the authors explain the tactics the Chinese government is pursuing through Tiktok’s operating company, ByteDance, from their perspective. Accordingly, they refer to “obvious risks” that could be taken, for example, by Beijing’s influence on the content of the platform. This could go as far as “cognitive warfare” using propaganda material from the Communist Party, for example.
The senators also sharply criticize the corporate structures. The parent company “Bytedance” is only registered in the British Cayman Islands in order to appear independent. A fifth of the shares in the company are held by a Chinese citizen. Despite this minority stake, he largely determines the business activities of the group. All of Bytedance’s patents are registered through the Chinese branch of the company, which is ultimately under Beijing’s thumb.
Senate: “Tiktok fits seamlessly into China’s broader effort to shape perceptions in the West”
According to the French senators on the committee of inquiry, Tiktok fits seamlessly into China’s broader efforts to influence perceptions in the West. The processing of user data, which Tiktok hoards en masse, is also not transparent. On the one hand, this is not compatible with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). On the other hand, the ability of the Communist Party and the national secret service to access this data has been proven.
To express their position, the senators quote former US President Barack Obama. Social media have “become one of the greatest threats to democracy.” Fake news, hate speech, harassment, disinformation, electoral rigging and troll farms are “just examples of the glitches of a technology that has been successful around the world.”
Tiktok in particular has an extremely “addictive algorithm” that keeps the often young users on the screen for hours and puts the interests of the users above “friendship relationships”, thus destroying the original idea of a social network.
The ban should apply to critical infrastructure personnel
The allegations by the committee of inquiry are not new. Already, Tiktok is completely banned in countries like India, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Employees of the EU Commission are prohibited from using the app. However, the French senators are going a step further than the EU and are raising the question of whether France should not “blacklist” Tiktok, like the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei. At the very least, however, one should give up the “dizzying naivety about the risks that arise for democracies as a result of the increasingly sophisticated methods of dictatorships and what they call their hybrid wars.”
Accordingly, MEPs are calling for the Tiktok ban, which currently applies to state employees, to be extended to personnel who play a role in critical infrastructure in the event of a crisis. The French government must ensure that Tiktok publicly explains the new transparency and moderation measures that the national regulator Arcom has requested. In addition, they demand a proactive removal of disinformation as well as the labeling of content from state media and content generated or modified by artificial intelligence (AI) and a transparent publication of the algorithm.
Tiktok denied the Senate’s allegations to the online magazine “Euractiv”. We disagree with the report’s findings. It is a “misjudgment” by the Senate.
Sources: Report of the Committee of Inquiry, heise.de, Euractiv.com
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