UK Edition
Chinese-controlled TikTok ‘could influence voters’ at next election
Tom Tugendhat warns that first-time voters might be swayed by social media content ‘programmed’ by foreign states
Chinese-owned TikTok could influence millions of first-time voters at the next election, the security minister warned on Tuesday.
Tom Tugendhat said around a third of young people aged between 18 and 24 are now reading the news on social media sites such as TikTok.
In a speech at the Policy Exchange think tank, he warned it was “critical” that the public knows where debates are coming from.
“We shouldn’t be having them triggered by outside forces and a hidden hand. For too long, foreign interference has been slowly creeping into British democracy,” he said.
Mr Tugendhat, who is one of many politicians to have been sanctioned by China, also raised the alarm over Russia as well as Iran, and the “so-called overseas police stations that China has set up around the country”.
He suggested there is a legitimate concern about a growing number of young people getting their news from TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese firm ByteDance.
“The influence of social media platforms on our younger generations here in the UK and around the world is pervasive,” he said. “The content on these platforms will influence minds.
“Yet it’s worth noting that foreign states hold considerable sway over the algorithms that are the editor on these sources. The challenge for a free country like ours is how we manage this debate.”
Asked whether he thought TikTok is being used as a tool by the Chinese state, Mr Tugendhat said: “The reality is there are many different platforms around, TikTok is one of them, and the reality is editorial control is exercised by algorithms that are programmed by individuals.
“The idea that these are some neutral actors, scientifically-controlled editorial decisions – they’re not, they’re chosen.
“They’re just chosen by someone who has programmed them in advance rather than somebody who’s decided whether to run your news story or somebody else’s news story.
“Whether or not these sources are being used to influence or shape debate today, may not be the question. The truth is the bridge is being built and what’s crossing it is yet to be worked out.”
But he did not say whether the Government is planning to regulate TikTok.
In August, Parliament closed its TikTok account after MPs raised concerns about user data being sent to Beijing.
A spokesman for TikTok said: "TikTok is an independent platform, with a global leadership team. We are open about how our recommendation system works, and publish regular transparency reports which demonstrate our content moderation in practice.
"We're working to provide researchers, academics and civil society even more access to public and anonymised data about content and activity on our platform."