WEBVTT - Exposing Big Tech with Kara Frederick 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:03.880 House Republicans have kicked off their investigations. The House Oversight 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:07.120 Committee brought Twitter employees before them, like James Baker and 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:11.080 nul Wroth, to grill them on Twitter's collusion with the 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:14.200 FBI to censor the media, to censor Americans. We all 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:16.560 know and remember what they did with the Hunter Bided 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:18.880 laptop story and what they did to the New York 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:23.720 Posts government ever contact you or anyone at Twitter to 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:27.640 censor or moderate certain tweets? Yes or no. We received 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:30.760 legal demands to remove content from the platform from the 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:33.519 US government and governments all around the walking of these 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:36.479 people for weeks and months, years prior to this League game. 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:41.680 They have specifically told you in October that the potentially 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:47.320 involving Hunter Biden's laptop legately and literally prophesized what happened, 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:51.560 and you contacted them, Sir, I did not, did Mr Roth? 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:54.400 Do you personally think that you have a political bias? 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:55.720 And did you have on when you worked in Twitter, 0:00:56.160 --> 0:01:00.200 a personal political bias? No, sir, as you didn't. You know. 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.160 That's that's remarkable because it's pretty much you did have 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:08.560 strong biases compared when you compared, ironically using Twitter people 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:11.080 that worked in the Trump White House to Nazis, they 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:14.240 were good folks that you simply disagreed with politically and 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.520 art representative republic, and you compare them to the most 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:20.360 evil people on the planet there murdered sixty million people, 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:22.320 or at least we're responsible for those deaths. Do you 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:24.319 think that was a little bit hyperbolic. We'll talk to 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.080 Kara Frederick, the director of the Tech Policy Center at 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:30.600 the Heritage Foundation, about all of it. What do you 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.200 need to know about what happened in that hearing, what 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:35.199 does it mean, and what does it mean moving forward. 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:39.280 We'll also get her take on TikTok about how China 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:42.480 uses the social media app to spy on you and 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:45.240 brainwash your kids. What do you need to know about that? 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:48.160 How worried should you be? All that? And more on 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:57.280 the Truth with Lisa Booth Kara Frederick's My guests, stay tuned. So, Karen, 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:01.200 Republicans kicked off their oversight hearings looking at the collusion 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:05.040 between the FBI and Twitter as well. You know, what 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:07.600 did you make of these hearings? Obviously we wouldn't know 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:10.239 about any of this if Elon Musk kind of released 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:13.080 the Twitter files, But you know, what are your takeaways 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:15.720 from all of it? Yeah, I thought it was pretty unsatisfying, 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:17.760 to be honest. Um, I left with a lot more 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:21.799 questions than answers. Um, you know that you'll wroth of Gota, 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:24.160 James Baker. These guys are all coach, They're good at 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:27.240 what they do. Um. The other Twitter employee was she 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:29.680 was a little more fast and loose, especially when it 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:32.240 came to the First Amendment and free speech. But but 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:34.920 the other guys had it pretty buttoned down. So I 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:38.360 was pretty unsatisfied with what came out of it. However, 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:42.280 you know, given what Elon Musk has basically revealed, and 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:46.399 we saw like little shreds and data points of what 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:49.360 we believed to be happening. We wrote about this at 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:53.200 the Heritage Foundation back in February two. But when Elon 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:56.360 Musk actually had those Twitter files released through the spade 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.480 of independent journalists, UM, we were able to see and 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:03.160 you know, in stark reality like what was actually going on. 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:06.639 So we knew before from the Intercept reporting that there 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.040 had been meetings with the FBI and Big Tech ahead 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:12.680 of We knew that Zuckerberg, remember when he admitted on 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:16.200 Joe Rogan that the FBI warned a Facebook of a 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:20.560 propaganda dump that might look akin to Russian hacking prior 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.079 to their decision to suppress the laptop story. But then 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:25.400 when Ellen came out with it, it was like okay, bam, 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:28.760 like it is absolutely indisputaful. So I thought that was 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.360 a great service, But in my mind, I'm kind of 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:35.560 wondered why, wondering why the rest of um, you know, 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:38.560 the main cream media and um, the rest of America 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:42.160 isn't as exercised about this collusion now that we have 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:45.880 verifiable proof that this was happening, that you know, they 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:49.560 they effectively the FBI ran an influence campaign against you 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:53.880 o roth um Uh former Twitter executive by bringing him 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:58.480 out to Aspen, having an entire exercise focused on Hunter 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:03.400 Biden specifically and what potential laptop league and documently could 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:05.440 look like, um if it was part of you know, 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:09.000 foreign influence campaign. So you know, the FBI is kind 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:13.000 of doing at this point what they're accusing other other countries, 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:16.680 but militians intent of doing. And in my mind, Americans 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:19.560 should be really really ticked off. And I hope the 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:23.840 Oversight Committee keeps going after these people. I hope that 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:28.800 the FEC opens their investing, reopens their investigation because the 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:31.880 Twitter executives at that point had said that Twitter, the 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:35.000 Twitter was not working with the Biden campaign. Again, these 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:37.240 Twitter files were real that that was not true. So 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:40.120 I'm I'm hoping to get consequences out of this and 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.040 not just sort of a theatrical here. And we we 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:47.200 need to to actually have legislation, um be the result 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:49.240 of these hearings. And I think some you know, there's 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:52.119 draft legislation underway. I think those should go to a vote, 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:54.719 and and I think this collusion should end. Yeah, I 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:56.680 hear you and that. I mean, look, I was getting 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:59.760 frustrated to just because they weren't being honest. I mean, 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:03.080 we know that the FBI had these weekly meetings with 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:06.080 Twitter officials like you'll Roth. They're warning them about this 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:10.440 hack and leak operation, you know, heading into all of this, 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:15.479 heading into this stopping of this New York Post article. 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.479 And also we know that the FBI sent you'll Roth 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:22.640 documents the night before they stopped the New York Post 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:26.120 from sharing this article. And I think what concerns me 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:29.160 the most is obviously, if we lose the First Amendment, 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.680 we cease to be a free country. We ceased to 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.800 be a republic exactly. And you know, everybody used to 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:39.080 sort of say, oh, the First Amendment only applies to 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:41.720 government actors, when we as conservatives would be like, hey, 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:44.840 these private companies are are actually you know, restricting our 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:47.240 free speech. But we have a culture of free speech 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:49.840 of course, so that matters too. But then secondly, this 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:52.600 is the smoking gun when it comes to government actors 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:56.360 restricting our free speech, and those are um, at least 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:58.800 in my estimation. I'm not a lawyer, but that's a 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:02.520 pretty clear by elation of the First Amendment. And this 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:05.400 is another thing that I think people don't now they're 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:08.680 starting to understand about tech companies, But we used to 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:11.279 I I used to work at Facebook, and we would 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.200 call ourselves, um, those the people that are building an 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:17.240 airplane in midflight. So these guys are sort of making 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:19.320 it up as they go. They've proven that over the 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:22.640 past few years. But now we see that their ideological 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:28.120 actors sort of retrofitting explanations for enacting their political proclivities, 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:31.320 and they make that decision, they find a justification later, 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:33.760 like they did with the you know, the hacked materials, 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:35.640 which turn out not to be true, and then they 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.760 actually admitted that's not true. Then the election happens and 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:40.760 they get the result that they supposed they want, and 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:43.360 now it's maya copa, maya coppa. We shouldn't have done that, 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:45.520 but it's too little, too late, and this happens time 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:51.760 and time and time again. You mentioned working for Facebook. 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:56.160 It what's really concerning, it's just how much influenced all 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:58.200 of these tech companies have and me, if you look 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:03.279 collectively at Google twy or Facebook, etcetera, they control so 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:07.080 much almost you know, most of the information that we 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:10.000 see or that we read, you know, talk a little 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:12.960 bit about that, oh exactly. And you know, it's not 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:17.080 just sort of the content that they're censoring under the 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:20.800 term content moderation, which really amounts to censorship, like you said, 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:24.520 it's the information flow, it's access to information. And that's 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:28.360 particularly troubling. And we as conservatives harp on this vignette 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:30.680 over and over again because I think it's important, and 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:34.560 that vignette is the Parlor one. So when Amazon or 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:38.880 excuse me, when um, Apple and Google decided to purge 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:41.960 uh Parlor, which at that time was at the top 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:44.760 of the Apple's app store from their their apps from 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:47.240 their stores. It was like, okay, well maybe you can 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:49.160 get it on you know, the desktop. You can still 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:51.560 look at Parlor. It was still sort of alive but 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:55.440 on life support. But then when Amazon Web Services decided 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:58.880 to restrict or not just restrict, but take away cloud 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:02.000 hosting services from Parlor, it was dead in the water. 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.600 It didn't exist anymore. So it's not just at you know, 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:08.880 the top layer, that the digital platform layer, but it's 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:11.560 that these mid tiers of what we call the digital 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:16.440 stack that actually prevents access to consumers to information. You 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:19.360 could not get Parlor at that point at all in 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:22.440 any form, in any digital form. So you know, this 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.840 goes further and further down to things like internet service providers, 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:29.240 more foundational layers of that stack. So Americans don't just 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:32.559 have to be concerned about how their content is manipulated 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:34.840 and restricted and sort of the the influence in the 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:37.160 propaganda that you were thinking of, um, that's both cut 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.840 off and and pushed them by specific companies. Um. But 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:43.920 they do have to be concerned about their access to information, 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:46.440 which I think is that is the seat change, that 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:49.240 is the crossing of the rubicon in my mind, when 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:52.520 you start to get down into those foundation or foundational 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:56.280 layers of that digital stack which prevents Americans from actually 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.240 seeing this information. So it's not just breaking the links 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.640 in direct message, does it Twitter? It's actually lights out 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:06.800 for these entire companies if they displease a specific big 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:10.319 tech platforms that frankly have an ideological event. And one 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:12.400 of the big problems is that so many of these 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:15.400 American companies are being led by people who do not 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:18.559 believe in freedom. They don't believe in free speech. I mean, 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:21.640 you'll roth sit there during the hearing talking about how 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.640 somehow you know censorship preserve speech. I mean, how does 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:28.360 that even make sense? Or you look at Apple, Apple 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:32.240 change the air drop feature in China so protesters couldn't 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:36.720 circumvent the government. So even if you make changes in Congress, 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:39.920 even if you change policy in Congress, we still have 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:44.200 people leading these companies who do not believe in free speech. 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:48.120 So where do you go from there? No, that's exactly right. 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:50.520 And that's when I when I first came from California 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:53.360 to the Hill, I basically would walk around, you know, 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:57.360 briefing members and say, hey, you guys have to look 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:00.800 at these companies differently because they don't see themselves as 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:05.200 American companies. They see themselves as global companies responsible to 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:08.240 a global constituency. And you look at a company like 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:12.720 Facebook or now Meta, which has their user base outside 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:15.320 of the U. S. And Canada. So they will, you know, 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:17.320 if they're hauled in front of Congress, they'll pretend that 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:20.280 they bleed red, white and blue, or incorporated in Delaware. 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:23.320 You know, we're American companies, but they really think differently 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:26.280 because they do. They're they're concerned about growth, their bottom 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:28.920 lines first and foremost, and they want to make sure 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.200 that when they're making decisions that it could apply to 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:36.920 the countries within which they're operating, and that's not just America. 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:39.760 And I think that the biggest manifestation of this was 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:42.800 when the former CEO of Twitter, Parague eper Wall, when 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:46.680 he specifically talked and tweeted about you know, the First 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:49.680 Amendment and free speech right, they're more concerned with safety 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:53.440 and harm. He's basically said that free speech is not 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.160 you know, it's not absolute, it's not something that um 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.199 we care about first and foremost. It's you know, preventing 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:02.160 harm and and that you know, harm as is as 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:04.280 you know, a catch off for all kinds of things, 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:10.000 especially on the left, that that we necessarily wouldn't agree with. So, um, 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:11.920 where do you go from there? That's a good question, 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:14.840 I think generally, Um, and you'll see this in the 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:17.880 China question that you raised. We we need to recover 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:22.319 a sense of you know, American self interest, frankly, because 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:24.720 with with China it's the whole. Now there's a big 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:28.320 movement to onshore a lot of our capabilities, whether it 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.840 be ppe for you know, the next pandemic um or 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:36.360 the ability to to make a semiconductor chips that power 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:40.400 pretty much everything that that we're going to use, from cars, computers, 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:43.400 to watches, etcetera. So I think that we need to 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:47.360 sort of press into that momentum m you know, bring 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:51.040 things back to America and recover our sense of of 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:55.480 what it means to be American innovators who care about America. 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:58.600 And you know then that has naturally resulted in being 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:01.480 a force for good as the world. So we we 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:03.640 need to get back to where we started from if 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:07.240 we're going to frankly succeed going forward. I mean, it 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:10.119 seems to be common sense that you want to be independent, 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:12.440 that you want to bring manufacturing back home, that we 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:14.280 want to be energy independent and we want to be 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:18.360 less reliant upon our enemies. It seems like common sense, 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:21.480 but Joe Biden doesn't get it. Democrats don't get it 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:24.760 as well. But you know, I want to keep talking 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:28.720 about China here. So there's obviously been this increased focus 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:34.680 on TikTok after the Chinese aircraft was going around basically 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:38.119 doing god knows what, taking pictures of our nuclear silos 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:41.720 and air force bases and all of that. But do 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:46.160 you think the concerns here over TikTok and China's influence 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:51.760 over TikTok? Is that overblown? Pun intended or what's your takeaway? Oh? 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.840 Not overblown at all. And and it's really funny that, um, 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:57.240 you know, we're in in the position to say, is 0:12:57.280 --> 0:12:59.880 this overblown? Because when we were working on this prob 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:04.160 ablem back in the Heritage Foundation was working on I 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:06.680 was working on in a different passy center, Holly, Um, 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:09.000 I felt like we were voices alone in the wilderness, 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:12.120 and people were like, you're crazy, what are you talking about. 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:14.400 This is a great cup above and the fact that 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:16.880 we've gotten this far to to be able to expose 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:19.960 this digital platform for what it is, I think is great, 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:21.800 So I'll take that as a win, um, but not 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:25.560 overblown at all. As you said, Beijing based parent company 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:28.240 by Dance. That matters, and it matters because of a 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:31.520 few reasons. And the first and most important one is 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:36.080 China has a seventeen National Intelligence law that effectively requires 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:39.920 every private company to provide access to the state. So 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:45.080 every private entity is working in service of the Chinese 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:49.040 Party state that the Chinese Communist Parties UCP UM. That is, 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:52.000 so whenever they say, oh, you know we are we're 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:55.600 totally separate. We store our data in the US and 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:58.480 in Singapore, so nobody has to worry about our Chinese 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:01.319 ties that were actively trying to downplay We know that 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:05.200 given internal communications that were released and reported on that 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:09.200 they actively try to downplay that tie. Um. That that 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:13.199 matters because when Beijing comes knocking, Bye Dance via TikTok 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:16.320 or Tiktokavians is not going to say no, they can't. 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:20.520 And then we know that Byte Dance actively employees former 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:24.440 CCP state media members. There's a report that had over 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:29.040 three hundred UM profiles declared that they had been members 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:31.920 of the Party state at some point UM, and then further, 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:35.280 one of three by dance board seats held by a 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:39.520 UM person with active CCP ties. So this is I mean, 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:43.080 it's very very obvious. And that that alone is you know, 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:45.480 those are facts, and then you look at what's happened 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:48.880 since UM we can establish those facts for the American people, 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:52.720 and we know that US user data has been accessed 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:56.360 in China by Bye Dance engineers. So again they're saying, oh, 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:59.560 there's a sundering between our Chinese operations and our US 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:03.680 operation is not true because Chinese engineers in China have 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:08.000 access to US user data. Further, a new revelation forbes 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:12.560 UM basically UM released that TikTok planned to surveil the 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:16.080 location of specific Americans journalists. So these are Byte Dance 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:20.560 employees in China using TikTok to gather i P address 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:24.080 location or attempting to gather i P address locational information 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:27.280 for these specific journalists to find their sources. UM. So 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:30.280 it is being used TikTok as a surveillance app that 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:33.840 it is by by Dance employees in China. So anything 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:37.560 that these companies are saying, and I'm gonna be watching 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:40.720 with with bated breath the TikTok CEO when he goes 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:42.760 in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:45.440 March twenty three, um to to hear what he has 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.920 to say, because all of these equivocations UM frankly amount 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:52.440 to falsehoods, and they know they're being deliberately misleading given 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:56.360 what we know from recent reporting on accessing user data 0:15:56.480 --> 0:16:00.280 from China that that rift between the Chinese and American 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:02.880 company does not exist like they say it does. But 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:07.040 what's wild is Adam Schiff, who previously was the chairman 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:10.120 of the House Intelligence Committee, is audit. I mean, he 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:13.120 should know better. And then you have people like GERK Swollwell, 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:15.400 who was also on the Intel Committee, who had a 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:19.600 relationship with a Chinese spy. You have Senator Diane Feinstein 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:23.520 who employed a Chinese spy for for twenty years. You've 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:26.920 got the Biden family who have made money off of 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:30.360 China as well. You've got all these American companies previously 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:34.240 you know mentioned Apple, you know you got the NBA. 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:37.280 So I mean, I guess, do do we have the 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:41.000 will to to go after China, to hold China's feet 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.840 to the fire since everyone is still beholding to them. 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:46.920 I honestly believe that that is the biggest problem that 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:49.440 we're facing and the biggest problem that the China Select 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:51.480 Committee is going to face. Two. You know, we need 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:54.440 to end China's land grabs in the American heartlands. We 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.840 need to end p l A influence in U S universities. 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:00.680 And when people are, you know, getting part of their 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:04.359 paycheck from the CCP or Chinese related end z s, 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:07.119 I think you know that they're they're compromised. UM, and 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:09.880 a lot of especially the Democratic Party, as you mentioned 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.359 swallow Well shift, even Biden. We know about his dealings 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:15.920 from the Hunter Biden laptop relations UM and his son's 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:20.360 dealings with CCP members, the CCP spy master in fact. UM. 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:23.480 So so you're right, when they're in the pockets of Beijing, 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.879 it's going to be harder and harder to UM figure 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:30.640 out solutions. And I really believe it's incumbent upon especially 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:33.240 the Republicans on the China Select Committee. I'm glad that 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.960 there's bipartisan efforts UM. Some of the TikTok bills actually 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:41.520 UM in the House are bipartisan led efforts of Christian Morthy, 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:45.600 Democrat Representative is co sponsoring the Bill with Mike Gallagher UM, 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.440 in addition to Mike Warner really sounding the alarm on 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:51.880 TikTok um at Democrat from Virginia. So I think it's UM. 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:55.560 It's very important for UM for people to obey the 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:59.560 dictates of their consciences at this point because UM this 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:03.560 whole you know, extracting wealth from America. My friend Page 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:06.040 wildly talks about that. A lot of people sort of 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:09.160 getting their's and you know, while the rot is UM 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:12.320 is still pervasive, so that you know this, it carries 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:15.640 on as it was without UM being you know, who 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:17.879 we used to be as a country. I think I 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:21.239 think people are just they're they're trying to get their's uh, 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:24.280 and then they're trying to secure that for their posterity 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:28.320 and their own children. Perfect example of of how that 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:31.040 that looks in the real world. And Americans just have 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:33.720 to say no UM. At the Heritage Foundation, you know, 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:36.360 we've talked to a lot of people who are who 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:39.640 are very interested in this question, people with UM who 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:42.000 have made a lot of money, businessmen and one and 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:44.880 they're like, I cannot allow this to go on. I 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:48.000 I have UM for a sense of morality. And this 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:50.560 is where you know, we're pulling out of China and 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:53.560 being able to see that, especially when you're big tech 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:56.480 companies like Apple, UM, who gets a lot of their 0:18:56.520 --> 0:19:00.200 revenue from China. That's a huge market for them. Uh 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:02.520 and they can't see that. But the average you know, 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:06.040 American business owner and not average, but you know, good 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:08.600 solid American business owners can. I think we need more 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:11.320 of those those men and women, UM and and frankly, 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:13.439 it needs to be exposed. I don't think people know 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:17.960 what you know about UM apples in China and partnering 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:21.520 with the CCP, propaganda arm Um, Google attempting to make 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:25.719 a search engine in China called Dragonfly for you, and UM. 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:27.800 You know, we need to expose the fact that a 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:30.400 lot of these big tech companies, these global is frankly 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:33.240 UM are are in bed with the CCP because that's 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:35.400 the world they think is successful. Those are all really 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:42.159 great points. You look at TikTok, more than a hundred 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:45.480 million American users. They spend an average of more than 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:49.040 eighty minutes per day on the app. You've got roughly 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:51.880 thirty six percent of Americans over the age of twelve 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:56.479 now use TikTok, including sixty one of Americans ages twelve 0:19:56.600 --> 0:20:00.480 through thirty four, I mean massive influence. And I worry 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:06.840 that beyond just the data privacy issues, I worry about 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:11.320 the brainwashing aspect of this as well. Uh, there was 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:13.480 this article I was reading and the Daily Mail is 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:15.639 talking about concerns in the UK. They said something like 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:19.439 the hashtag trance has been used almost twenty six billion 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:22.840 times and you look at that, you look at things 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:26.160 like puberty blockers leading to infertility at a time when 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:29.720 we face declining birthrates. I mean, if you're China, would 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:34.520 would you do anything differently? Absolutely not? And you know 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:38.800 we know from this has been popularized. Now China is 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:41.560 doing all of this all while insulating Chinese kids through 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:43.880 the more wholesome and joy in at their Chinese version 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:47.920 of TikTok um. And it's particularly concerning for the next 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:51.399 generation of citizens. So TikTok is they're winning the battle 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:54.240 for the next generation in America, frankly, and two thirds 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:57.480 of American teams around TikTok We know that parents surveyed 0:20:57.520 --> 0:21:00.879 by Pew said that of their pre teens, these are 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:04.000 nine to eleven year olds are on TikTok and it 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:08.800 indoctrinates American youth through pushing harmful content like eating disorders, 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:14.080 like suicide, content like verbal, verbal and physical ticks UM 0:21:14.119 --> 0:21:18.800 content with influencers that exhibit those UM particular symptoms. And 0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:22.480 there's one report from the Wall Street Journal UH last 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:25.919 year that basically said, all of the young women who 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:29.639 went to a Texas hospital who were exhibiting these verbal 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:32.640 and physical ticks, all of a sudden, they traced all 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:36.080 of their their UM, their habits back to looking at 0:21:36.119 --> 0:21:40.600 a particular TikTok influencer. So this is all happening all 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:44.600 while China insulates their own children through the more wholesome 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:48.719 app called in the Chinese version of TikTok UM. And 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:51.159 we know that, you know, even adults are starting to 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:53.480 get their news and a lot of their content here 0:21:54.040 --> 0:21:57.040 on TikTok. The number of American adults using TikTok for 0:21:57.119 --> 0:22:00.399 news has tripled in the past two years. So we're 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:05.920 plugging ourselves into this application that's pumping UH these influence 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:09.040 campaigns as propaganda. We know that pro CCP narratives are 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:12.720 also pumped into UM TikTok algorithms and their feed So 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:16.600 understanding what this is doing to the next generation, what 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:18.919 what effect this could have on our citizens who are 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:22.159 going to vote and who are charged with the future 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:25.320