The Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was behind the sudden interest in TikTok affairs and eventual ban threat. Here are the details of this story below.
According to the article, Zuckerberg had begun laying the foundations of the fears in a speech about freedom of expression in 2019. He also mentioned it when he talked to Georgetown students. His memo was that TikTok being a Chinese app, does not share Facebook’s ideals of American freedom.
But he took it a step further by meeting with those in authority as well. The Facebook CEO found ways to bring in TikTok’s growing popularity when he argued for his company’s freedom. The Wall Street Journal wrote:
“In a private dinner at the White House in late October, Mr. Zuckerberg made the case to President Trump that the rise of Chinese internet companies threatens American business, and should be a bigger concern than reining in Facebook, some of the people said.
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“Mr. Zuckerberg discussed TikTok specifically in meetings with several senators, according to people familiar with the meetings. In late October, Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.)—who met with Mr. Zuckerberg in September—and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) wrote a letter to intelligence officials demanding an inquiry into TikTok.”
However, the White House and Facebook have denied that Mark Zuckerberg had anything to do with TikTok’s misfortune. Peter Navarro who is the trade advisor to the White House claimed that the Facebook CEO had no influence on TikTok matters. He further said that stories tying him to it have ‘zero credibility’.
Also speaking to CNBC on Monday, a Facebook spokesperson said; “Mark has never advocated for a ban on TikTok. He has repeatedly said publicly that the biggest competitors to U.S. tech companies are Chinese companies, with values that don’t align with democratic ideals like free speech.
“It’s ludicrous to suggest that long-standing national security concerns — raised by policymakers on both sides of the aisle — have been shaped by Mark’s statements alone.”
Yet, things don’t seem to portray Facebook in a good light on this issue. It had just launched a TikTok-like feature on Instagram called Reels. It seems Zuckerberg is truly bent on kicking TikTok out of the market.
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