A Republican lawmaker is requesting President Biden take action to eliminate TikTok, an app critics allege gives the Chinese government private access to tens of millions of Americans.
Hours after Biden ordered the United States Air Force to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., took to Twitter with a simple instruction: “Now blow up TikTok.”
Biden’s decision to shoot down the balloon came a week after it was first detected over Alaska on Jan. 25 and days after it was later reported over Montana, Missouri, and the Carolinas.
The social media app has been the point of contention as critics say the Chinese government’s control over ByteDance, the company that developed TikTok, allow it to control what teens and others who have the app see. This control can result in offering propaganda, influencing decisions and elections, or simply distracting the populous, critics say.
JORDAN, CRUZ SHRED BIDEN OVER SUSPECTED CHINESE SPY BALLOON BY COMPARING HIM TO PAST PRESIDENTS: ‘WEAKNESS’
Rep. Matt Gaetz is calling on President Biden to take action against TikTok, following his order to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon.
(Megan Varner/Getty Images)
The Air Force ultimately shot down the balloon Saturday afternoon as it hovered over the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina.
China’s government released a blistering statement after the United States shot down a suspected spy balloon that floated from Montana to the Carolinas, calling the action an “attack” that was “totally unexpected.”
“China strongly disapproves of and protests against the U.S. attack on a civilian unmanned airship by force,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
REPUBLICAN DEMANDS JOE BIDEN, KAMALA HARRIS RESIGN AFTER ‘CATASTROPHIC CHINESE SPY BALLOON SPECTACLE’
The Foreign Ministry also said it repeatedly informed the U.S. that the suspected spy balloon was “civilian” and posed no risk, saying it mostly collected weather…
