Trump makes eye-popping claim about China, TikTok and American children

Many lawmakers — conservatives, in particular — have spent the better part of the past four years bemoaning TikTok as a national security threat. One of the main reasons they’ve asserted is that the Chinese ownership of the app allegedly poses a danger to children, who’ve been known to be particularly susceptible to social media and vulnerable to harassment.

These lawmakers’ concerns weren’t necessarily misguided, but as I’ve written previously, the laser focus on TikTok, rather than other social media platforms such as X and Meta-owned platforms, seemed like an oversight. Nonetheless, there’s evidence to suggest TikTok’s addictive features and propensity to promote false or harmful content do pose a risk to children; the app, for example, has previously been found to recommend videos that promote self-harm and suicidal ideation to children.

But Trump’s newfound love for the app he once wanted to ban — a reversal that came after it was used to aid his election win in November — has forced many Republicans to pipe down about their anti-TikTok talk or to follow their leader to flip-flop completely. 

So Trump’s comments Wednesday to Fox News host Sean Hannity dismissing the threat of China potentially spying on American children struck me as equal parts odd and unbelievable. When Hannity mentioned the concerns that the app could be used for spying, Trump said, “I know,” before adding that Chinese-made phones and computers could be an even bigger risk.

Then he asked a question that made my jaw drop: “Is it that important for China to be spying on young people watching crazy videos?”

The answer to that question is “probably, yes.”

Just last year, a bipartisan group of senators attended a private briefing on TikTok in which federal authorities warned them about the app’s data collection capabilities and how it can funnel misinformation, disinformation and other propaganda into users’ feeds. So the issue isn’t simply that TikTok knows what people are watching, like some kind of digital voyeur; it’s that the app also determines the things users see. And those “crazy videos” Trump describes can be anything from content celebrating Osama bin Laden to lies about the presidential election. There have already been reports of China-based TikTok employees accessing user data, so Trump’s handwaving about any interest in Americans’ social media behavior is baseless.

Meanwhile, Trump’s claim about Chinese hardware such as phones and computers being vulnerable to spying is also odd. Not because it’s false (which it isn’t), but because, one week into his second term, he’s already done things to harm the United States’ defense against such attacks. Just this week, among the first acts of his administration, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security disbanded its Cyber Safety Review Board. This board included officials who had been investigating one of the biggest phone and computer hacking campaigns in U.S. history, a China-linked attack known as “Salt Typhoon.” Experts are concerned this decision could hamper efforts to fight back against similar hacks.

That administrative move came just days after Trump’s pick for DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, vowed to focus on hacks like Salt Typhoon rather than foreign manipulation campaigns on social media platforms — like TikTok.