By Marco Rubio

Most Americans have never heard of ByteDance, but they know its product: The technology company owns TikTok and curates the app’s video feeds for 170 million American users.

But ByteDance isn’t a normal company. It’s controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, by law and corporate structure.

China’s totalitarian regime passed a sweeping national security law in 2017 that gave it the authority to compel any action by any Chinese corporation, ByteDance included.

It also owns a “golden share” of ByteDance’s stock, meaning the former government official on the board can outvote every other board member. Beijing’s control over this company is absolute.

And while TikTok may be headquartered in the United States, ByteDance engineers in China own and operate the app’s algorithm.

They use artificial intelligence to profile TikTok users’ preferences, beliefs, behavior, and values. In a way, ByteDance gets to know TikTok users better than they know themselves.

So if Chinese officials tell the company to use the app against its users, ByteDance has the power to do it — and no choice but to comply.

Does that sound farfetched? Think again. Over the past few years, ByteDance has reportedly spied on American journalists, boosted Democratic candidates in American elections, promoted Osama bin Laden’s letter justifying 9/11, skewed political opinion in favor of Hamas, and accessed Americans’ driver’s licenses, physical addresses, device IDs, tax information and Social Security numbers — all through its ownership of TikTok.

We would never allow the Chinese Communist Party to own and ultimately control The New York Post or Fox News.

Full Op-Ed over at The New York Post:

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