Does one of your family members have the Tik Tok smart phone app installed on their phone?
For months tech experts have warned that the social media platform contains software that steals data & violates user privacy, but the polital ideology of the company's founder is just as concerning.
Zhang Yiming, the founder and CEO of Tik Tok's parent company, Bytedance, has pledged to use his company to promote "Socialist values" and support the Chinese communist party's "Ideology, political thinking, and deeds."
Zhang showed his fealty in a nearly 1,000-word essay after China’s State Administration of Radio and Television banned his first app for “improper” content,
Posted to the Tencent-owned platform WeChat, the apology began with Zhang admitting his app offended his “socialist core values.”
“In the past, we have placed too much emphasis on the role of technology, and failed to realize that socialist core values are the prerequisite to technology,” he stated.
He noted the “deep-seated problems for the company” included “a weak understanding of the “four consciousness”, a lack of socialist core values, and a biased guidance of public opinion.”
“Four consciousness” is a term favored by President Xi Jinping, which, as explained by a high-level Chinese Communist Party (CCP) apparatchik is to foster adherence to party “ideology, political thinking, and deeds”:
“The fundamental principle of strengthening consciousness is to follow the ideology, political thinking and deeds of the CCP Central Committee, with Xi as general secretary.”
While apologizing for “failing to live up to the guidance and expectations of the authorities,” the TikTok CEO, who has repeatedly insisted the app has no links to the CCP, admitted that TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has received “a lot of guidance and help” from “the authorities.”
WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 07: In this photo illustration, the TikTok app is displayed on an Apple iPhone on August 7, 2020 in Washington, DC. On Thursday evening, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that bans any transactions between the parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, and U.S. citizens due to national security reasons. The president signed a separate executive order banning transactions with China-based tech company Tencent, which owns the app WeChat. Both orders are set to take effect in 45 days. (Photo Illustration by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)