I am writing to express my grave concerns about the prospect of Steve Mnuchin, the former Treasury Secretary under President Trump, acquiring TikTok through a private purchase. This comes just one day after the House voted to compel TikTok's Chinese owners to divest their stakes or face a U.S. ban on the massively popular social media platform.
If this Mnuchin-led purchase succeeds, it would mean two of the most powerful messaging platforms on the planet - TikTok and Twitter (now owned by Elon Musk) - would be under the control of close allies of Donald Trump and his "Make America Great Again" movement. This represents an unacceptable consolidation of influence over crucial modern channels of communication, just ahead of the 2024 election cycle.
The concerns around TikTok's Chinese ownership involve legitimate data privacy and national security risks. However, allowing Mnuchin's group to scoop it up raises different but equally troubling issues around the partisan weaponization of these platforms and the perpetuation of disinformation and conspiracy theories. We have seen Twitter's moderation policies steadily dismantled under Musk, and there is no reason to believe a Mnuchin-owned TikTok would fare any better.
It is deeply disconcerting that two pillars of the MAGA movement could exert such concentrated control over powerful communication tools during a pivotal election period. This has the potential to jeopardize the integrity of public discourse and democratic debates.
I urge you and your colleagues to apply stringent scrutiny to this proposed TikTok sale and consider all available safeguards to prevent its abuse as a partisan propaganda machine. The consequences of allowing bad actors to freely manipulate these platforms are too severe to ignore. Thank you for your attention to this critical matter.
