TikTok Viewed As Chinese Influence Tool By Most Americans – Poll

TikTok’s continued existence in the United States is in the news headlines again this week, after a poll by Reuters/Ipsos.

A majority of Americans believe that China uses TikTok to shape US public opinion, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted as the US moves closer to potentially banning the Chinese-owned short-video app.

According to the poll, some 58 percent of respondents to the two-day poll, which closed on Tuesday, agreed with a statement that the Chinese government uses TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, to “influence American public opinion.”

Chinese tool?

However, according to the poll some 13 percent of respondents disagreed, and the rest were unsure or didn’t answer the question.

Republicans were more likely than Democrats to see China as using the app to affect US opinions.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

President Joe Biden last month had signed the TikTok ban or divest bill into law.

The ban or divest law gives Beijing-based ByteDance 270 days (or roughly nine months) to sell TikTok to a US-based company, or the app will face a total ban from American app stores, as well as being prohibited from “internet hosting services” that support the app.

President Biden could extend the deadline another 90 days if he determines ByteDance has made progress toward a sale.

That would give TikTok potentially up to a year before facing a ban.

But ByteDance is subject to Chinese law, and the Chinese government has previously stated it will oppose a sale.

ByteDance has already pledged to fight the US legislation in the courts, and last week sources  indicated that ByteDance would prefer to shut down its loss-making app rather than sell it, if the Beijing-based firm exhausts all legal options to fight the legislation.

Widely used

TikTok is used by 170 million users in the United States, and thousands of them had inundated US lawmakers with telephone calls as the ban or divest bill went through the House and Senate.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll found 50 percent of Americans supported banning TikTok, while 32 percent opposed a ban and the rest were unsure.

The poll reportedly only surveyed US adults and doesn’t reflect the views of people under age 18, who make up a significant portion of TikTok’s users in the United States.

The poll showed 46 percent of Americans agreed with a statement that China is using the app to “spy on everyday Americans,” an allegation Beijing has always denied.