Chinese Agents Carried Out Large TikTok Campaign to Help Elect Democrats During Midterms

According to an investigation conducted by Forbes, TikTok accounts functioning as mouthpieces of Chinese state media promoted messages that apparently cast Republicans in a negative light while portraying Democrats favorably in the lead up to the 2022 midterm elections.

Although TikTok has said that it will need to clamp down on accounts promoting foreign interference and election disinformation, various media accounts did not disclose their connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) state-owned media on the platform. These accounts were able to pick up tens of millions views on posts that covered hot button issues, such as abortion and race, in addition to  sensitive clips that primarily depicted Republican candidates in a negative light prior to the 2022 midterms.

“This opens a new dimension for conversation about TikTok,” Conor Healy, the director of government research at surveillance research group IPVM, said to the Daily Caller. 

MediaLinks TV managed the accounts, which registered with the Treasury Department as a foreign agent for China in 2019. It also distributes the US branch of China Central Television (CCTV), CGTN, per the company’s LinkedIn page. According to Apple, MediaLinks also runs the CCTV and CGTN apps.

Tiananmen Square by Alexander Schimmeck is licensed under Unsplash unsplash.com
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