Author: Zhehan
In recent years, Douyin has been integrated into the lives of most Chinese people. I believe that many of you like to open Douyin in your spare time so that you can take a break from your busy life. For some people, Douyin is no longer just an entertainment application in daily life, but has also become a platform for work and shopping. Many ordinary people have become creators through Douyin: sharing bits and pieces of life; commenting on major world events; and even live streaming to sell goods. It can be said that Douyin has greatly enriched the daily life of Chinese people.
This phenomenon is also common across the ocean in the United States. The overseas version of TikTok also has 170 million users in the United States, becoming a new and fashionable lifestyle for the young generation in the United States. I still remember that in my school, my American classmates often competed with each other to see who had more TikTok fans. Many young Americans have abandoned social media (such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.) used by the older generation, turning to TikTok and forming new subculture groups in recent years.
Although tiktok has taken root in the United States, on Thursday, March 7, the U.S. Congress announced a controversial bill. The bill states that TikTok needs to be separated from its Chinese subsidiary ByteDance and acquired and managed by an American company, otherwise TikTok will be prohibited from continuing to operate in the United States. Since Meng Wanzhou was illegally detained, this method of the US government has become strange to everyone. Originally, this incident was no different from similar incidents that had occurred in the past, but TikTok’s response this time reflected China’s unique philosophy of struggle and a deep understanding of the American political system. Therefore, the author believes that it is necessary to share TikTok’s response method.
Starting from March 8, an eye-catching slogan appeared on the tiktok homepage.
The title reads "Prevent tiktok from shutting down." The main content of the text says, "The U.S. Congress is preparing to completely ban TikTok. Make your voice heard before your government tries to deprive 170 million Americans of their right to free speech. The ban will hurt millions of businesses; it will destroy the lives of creators across the country. Life. Let Congress know what tiktok really means."
In the past, when this kind of unfair treatment against Chinese companies occurred, we always tried to communicate with the US government. However, this time TikTok appealed to the American people on its own platform and launched an American version of "People's War." The U.S. Capitol Hill newspaper reported that the office phones of many members of Congress were ringing with calls from voters everywhere who were dissatisfied with the bill. In the United States, calling and sending emails to congressmen’s offices is a common means of political participation for voters. launching such a people's war reflects TikTok's deep understanding of the local political system in the United States, and the 170 million users in the United States have lived up to TikTok's expectations of them .
This incident is also another vivid example of the American culture war and gerontocracy. Although there is currently no definite information about who drafted the bill, the author believes that the bill is most likely drafted by Republican congressmen. After all, the first two congressional hearings on tiktok were chaired by Republican congressmen. President Biden has also stated that he will eventually sign the bill if it passes both houses of Congress.
President Biden’s statement makes the whole incident even more interesting. Both parties are passing this bill to benefit themselves. The Republican Party hopes to pass this bill to consolidate the votes of conservative voters on the grounds of national security and patriotism, and Republican lawmakers can also gain political points by being tough on Chinese-backed companies. The Democratic Party hopes to pass this bill and use it to criticize the Republican Party for ignoring the interests of the 170 million users in the United States, most of whom are young people, so as to encourage young people to actively vote for the Democratic Party in the upcoming general election. Such a bill can satisfy the interests of both the Republican and Democratic parties, but it only harms the interests of the American people. I believe that this bill will be remembered and often mentioned in the future as a negative example of the American political system.
What is even more interesting is that President Trump publicly opposed the ban on TikTok on his social platform truthsocial.He believes that blocking TikTok will give Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO) greater power. After all, Trump has been promoting that it was because of Facebook and other pro-Democratic social media that he failed to win the 2020 election. Defeat Biden.
This incident is not only related to the future of tiktok in the United States, but also reflects the complex contradictions in the United States. In the context that young people in the United States generally do not participate in politics, the older generation of vested interests simply do not understand young people in the United States. Culture wars and gerontocracy are intensifying in the United States. In this context, TikTok’s “people’s war” strategy appears even more brilliant and worthy of promotion. We should take advantage of the domestic conflicts in the United States in future interactions with the United States and let those who are hostile to us sink into the ocean of people's war.
