The fate of TikTok has become a new front in the competition between China and the United States, he wrote. Dimitar Rilkov. But no matter how the situation ends, the EU must be ready to intervene and protect its citizens.
In some ways, it had to be this way. Over the years, the TikTok saga has expanded in the United States, with multiple legislative initiatives attempting to block the video-sharing app and Donald Trump attempting to ban it himself in 2020. Regardless of who was in the White House, both parties focused on curtailing Beijing’s capacity for technological advancement and international reach.
Initially, the United States launched an intensive pressure campaign on the hardware sector. First, it almost went bankrupt by completely stopping the supply of essential technology to Chinese telecommunications company ZTE. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has waged a global campaign against China’s national champion, Huawei, and the infiltration of its telecom equipment into the critical infrastructure of international allies. Most recently, the Biden administration implemented strict export controls limiting China’s access to cutting-edge semiconductors and advanced manufacturing equipment.
The latest escalation against TikTok means the United States is now poised to wage a heated war with the multibillion-user foreign user social media company, which reportedly hosts about 170 million American users. This direct conflict opens a new front in the ongoing US-China confrontation and creates additional sources of tension in the transatlantic alliance.
Sell ​​or perish
Now, the U.S. Congress has decided that a TikTok ban on U.S. users is justified because the company has not changed ownership as required by an act of Congress. For years, Chinese companies have been accused of deliberately spying on Western journalists and mishandling personal data leaked to Chinese servers.
To make matters worse, there is growing evidence that social media platforms are being used as tools of the Chinese Communist Party by amplifying or downplaying certain political issues. Just days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, TikTok blocked its Russian service from the rest of the world, leaving Russian users in an echo chamber of Kremlin propaganda.
Recently, a Chinese company was officially investigated for allowing Russian interference in Romania’s 2024 presidential election. The journalistic investigation also revealed how quickly TikTok’s algorithm can pinpoint users’ moods, beliefs and preferences, leading them down a rabbit hole of self-harm and depression. Moreover, the platform has been used to accelerate propaganda against Western governments, making it one of the main means of fostering distrust in democracy.
What makes this case unique is that TikTok is not just a private company. Public communications from the owner (Byte Dance) regarding the potential sale and messages from officials in Beijing show that any decision on changing ownership of TikTok could come only from the Chinese government.
What’s next?
The U.S. legislative and judicial branches are opposing the new Trump administration. Technically speaking, the Chinese company continues to violate current laws of parliament. However, the new US president issued an executive order extending the deadline (even though the conditions have not yet been met). The description of “saving” a TikTok is misleading. This is because the app will either be completely banned within US jurisdictions or will be resold to another owner.
What’s interesting is that there is already a precedent for forced sales of the dating app ‘Grinder’. In 2019, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) ordered a forced sale of the company after evidence emerged that Beijing-based engineers had accessed personal correspondence and health records of American users. This time, the stakes are higher because TikTok is valued at tens of billions of dollars and its algorithm alone is a valuable asset that the Chinese government will not want to give up easily.
A full ban would be a windfall for U.S. tech platforms. In 2020, India blocked TikTok and 50 other online applications under national security provisions. As a result, most Indian users flock to Instagram and YouTube Shorts. It’s a reminder that no app is irreplaceable, and that the oligopoly of a few California-based digital giants is only expanding internationally.
EU optics
Regardless of the final outcome in the United States, the European Union must commit to limiting TikTok’s operations in Europe. In Brussels, there is a fascination with Twitter/X due to its personified clash with owner Elon Musk. But there is much less interest in TikTok and its roughly 150 million European users, most of whom are teenagers.
The Romanian elections are a clear example of how Chinese companies can compromise the electoral process by artificially diverting attention and participation. The damage is twofold, as the platform has a very high reach and acts as a direct news outlet for European youth.
European governments and security services have identified vulnerabilities in the TikTok app, and European institutions have banned employees from using the application. But few countries have taken more stringent measures. Albania was the first European country to publicly restrict operations due to national security and public safety considerations. France also briefly banned TikTok outright in New Caledonia because the app had been weaponized to escalate the local crisis.
The rest of the EU will have to implement digital services law or follow suit through national courts. It is important to publicly challenge these active influence operations taking place within European borders. In the end, this is probably just an act of reciprocity, as China has banned hundreds of US/European applications and social media platforms for decades.
All of this does not mean that Brussels should allow America’s big tech oligopolies to continue exploiting European user data and profiting from ubiquitous surveillance regimes. The EU has its own legal framework on digital governance and individual freedoms that must not be compromised.
In fact, the EU market, with nearly 500 million citizens, is one of the main sources of revenue for U.S. technology companies. If the EU acts together, the potential for positive influence is enormous. European interests require EU member states to pursue an improved data-sharing regime with the United States and enforce existing European privacy, antitrust, and competition laws.
Protecting the hearts and minds of Europeans
The EU must face the facts. Whether in the US, China, Instagram or TikTok, virtually all European users are trapped in proprietary social media networks that are actively manipulated and can erode the well-being of young users. It’s no surprise that “brain rot” has become Oxford’s word of the year for 2024. The level of social media harm has reached such a level that using certain apps is already considered as harmful as smoking. And yet, we are still exposing minors and teenagers to endless bullshit, manipulation, and subpar content competition.
The use of social media apps by Europeans under 18 or over 16 should be strictly restricted, and online platforms should have appropriate and secure age verification regimes in place. This is a sensitive debate that must be conducted carefully and consistently across European society. It has already begun at the local level. From elite Eton in the UK to township schools in Belgium, educational institutions are restricting phone use during school hours.
We are already seeing signs of a lost generation, with teenagers and young adults expressing feelings of alienation, anxiety and political frustration. The EU must prioritize their well-being and publicly label these social media products as highly addictive. We must also prepare for active economic warfare on the digital front and an expansion of foreign influence campaigns aimed at social stability in Europe. For better or worse, the EU is caught up in an international app and technology war. We must rise to the challenge.
Note: This article gives the views of the author and not the position of EUROPP (European Politics and Policy) or the London School of Economics. Main image source: FellowNeko /Shutterstock.com
