2024-05-05 03:09:43
TikTok is popular – and infamous. Hate and disinformation spread quite unhindered on the Chinese short video platform. Can the EU get this under control without a ban?
There have been headlines in Germany about Chinese espionage cases for weeks. At the same time, an app from China has become the most popular social network, especially among young people: TikTok. Critics also fear data espionage here. The platform doesn’t do enough to combat fake news and hate speech anyway. TikTok is now threatened with a ban in the USA.
And in the EU? Here, the Digital Services Act is intended to force platforms like TikTok to adhere to the law in the future. But: is that enough? And what does the regulation of artificial intelligence have to do with all of this?
The Green Party politician Franziska Brantner helped negotiate the new rules as Parliamentary State Secretary in Robert Habeck’s Ministry of Economics. And in an interview with t-online, he calls on the EU Commission to vigorously enforce it now.
t-online: Ms. Brantner, because of current suspected cases, Chinese espionage is being discussed more in Germany than it has been for a long time. At the same time, all parties and politicians are downloading the Chinese app TikTok, where no one seems to be sure what happens to the data. Isn’t that schizophrenic?
Franziska Brantner: Our security authorities have long been warning about Chinese espionage and disinformation. At the same time, we must not leave relevant communication platforms to the anti-democrats; we must differentiate.
All actors must take China’s economic espionage activities, but also espionage against democratic processes, more seriously. President Xi Jinping said in 2017 that Europe was a systemic rival.
With the China strategy, we as the federal government have defined a triad of a China that is at the same time a competitor, partner and systemic rival. It is therefore right that the security authorities investigate the allegations of espionage very closely. The obvious proximity of important AfD politicians to Putin’s regime and also to China is not surprising, and it must be disclosed here: Where did the money come from? Are leading AfD politicians acting on behalf of autocratic regimes?
But again: Everyone still uses TikTok without any concerns about its “systemic rival”?
TikTok is a reality we have to face. It is a huge platform that has 20 million users in Germany alone. As long as this platform is permitted in its current form – and that is a legitimate debate – the question is: Do we leave this space to the AfD and the destroyers of democracy? I decided not to do that. But of course you have to be careful: I only use TikTok on an extra cell phone that doesn’t have any other professional or private data on it.
To person
Franziska Brantner, 44 years old, is Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection. There she is responsible for European policy, foreign trade policy and digital and innovation policy. The Green politician has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2013, and previously sat in the European Parliament from 2009.
Are the espionage cases a wake-up call for the federal government to take the part about the “systemic rival” really seriously? When it comes to the entry of the Chinese into the port of Hamburg or the question of whether companies like Huawei should be kept out of the German networks, there were and are different positions among the coalition partners.
The suspected espionage cases are indeed a warning sign! In principle, we agree; there is no party in the traffic light that claims that China is not also a systemic rival. When it comes to the details, i.e. the triad has to be spelled out, differences of opinion can still arise.
Your party friend and Economics Minister Robert Habeck has recently also been on TikTok. A few years ago he left Twitter because he considered shortening and polarization there to be dangerous. Isn’t this an even bigger problem on TikTok?
The debate culture at X is now even more unbearable than it was when it was still called Twitter. With TikTok the mechanisms are a little different. But of course there is also a right-wing, conspiracy theory community there. The EU Commission must now hold all platforms, from X to Telegram to Tiktok, responsible and enforce European law. This means, among other things: no space on the platforms for insults, slander, racism and anti-Semitism – just like in the analogue area. In the meantime, we Democrats should engage in direct exchange there.
Robert Habeck says he was also moved to TikTok by the “Youth in Germany” study. According to the researchers, the AfD received the most votes among 14 to 29 year olds with 22 percent. An insane increase from just 9 percent two years ago. This can’t just be because of TikTok.