Congressman Dusty Johnson’s Weekly Column: Safety or Surveillance?

We learned this week that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) lied to America and the rest of the international community about the route and purpose of their balloon. The House voted yesterday to criticize their actions. I can’t say that I am surprised by the lie—in reality, the balloon is just one incident of surveillance that likely didn’t gain them much more data. The CCP has been surveilling us for much longer than two weeks, and by many standards, much closer to the ground than a balloon—close enough that they’re in your pocket.

It’s a much more subtle threat—TikTok—and millions of Americans have it downloaded on their cellphone alongside their most personal information. A spy balloon, viewable by most of America, is an easy physical object to call out for surveillance, but TikTok may pose a much more real and present threat to Americans.

TikTok gathers personal and private data on your life—your face ID, voice recognition, passwords, text messages, Google searches. You name it, the CCP probably has access to it. More than that, the content the CCP promotes on TikTok user devices in China is vastly different than the content promoted on American user devices. An article from Forbes details the educational videos seen on China-based accounts and the videos promoted for American users stirring up divisive political views or encouraging violence, theft, and self-harm. After months of pushing my Block the Tok bill to my colleagues, Congress understood the threat TikTok poses to national security and banned TikTok on federal devices. This is a step in the right direction, but far from the end goal.

China has been surveilling and collecting data on America and other countries for decades. Their government doesn’t honor personal freedoms or the right to privacy. We know they are always watching, and even though the spy balloon last week was a very overt surveillance technique, we need to remain vigilant in addressing the threats the CCP poses and combatting their influence over American citizens, supply chains, and our government.

That’s why the Select Committee on China is so important. This week, we had our first official meeting—great timing to start laying out our priorities and plans for this Congress, addressing the 360-degree threat the CCP poses. I am honored I get to work with the Select Committee to keep America safe.

###