TikTok in the US under pressure after the death of a teenager

Chase Nasca was only 16 years old and never came home. The teenager left his gym in upstate New York on February 18, 2022, and went home. But he stopped on the track. He sent another message to a friend: “I can’t do it anymore.” A regional train caught the boy who no longer wanted to live.

A year later, Chase’s suicide worries the highest political body in the United States. His parents, Dean and Michelle, stand in the middle of the room during a live televised congressional hearing that eventually turns against another country, China. In front of the world, Dean and Michelle burst into tears. Chase’s father can barely stand. His pain almost makes him collapse.

A deputy thanks them for coming and addresses a man in the front row: “Your business has ruined your life.” The addressed man from Singapore is called Shou Zi Chew. He is the boss of the world-famous TikTok app, which is now used by 150 million Americans and about 20 million Germans. On Wednesday, he has to answer the probing questions of the American members of parliament for hours. But what does Shou Zi Chew have to do with the suicide of an American teenager from New York?

Suicide after app use

Before committing suicide, Chase spent several days watching disturbing videos on the social media platform TikTok, which is owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance. Chase’s parents are suing TikTok, saying the company is responsible for their son’s death. According to the lawsuit, Chase did not search for violent content himself. On the contrary, TikTok deliberately flooded Chase with depressing and suicidal video clips.

The fate of Chase Nasca and child protective services in question is just one of the allegations facing TikTok boss Shou Zi Chew in Washington. The others are nothing less than: espionage, censorship, disinformation and data theft on behalf of China. Which is also technically a problem with US data companies, fewer and fewer US politicians are willing to accept a company whose sensitive data can, in principle, reach the Chinese communist government.

When Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers addressed the TikTok boss, she summed up the basic feeling of many Americans: “We don’t believe TikTok will ever adopt American values, values ​​for freedom, human rights and innovation. TikTok has always chosen a path of greater scrutiny, more surveillance and more manipulation. Your platform should be banned.” Shou Zi Chew says his company is doing everything it can to protect its users, especially young people. Shortly before his appointment to Congress, he had announced via TikTok that he wanted to immediately protect American data against access from abroad by means of a special firewall.

Even Trump wanted to ban the app

The social media app TikTok, in particular, is currently becoming a symbol of an American turning point against China’s growing influence. In addition, millions of people, especially teens and young adults, share homemade video clips featuring music, dance, recipes, parodies and lots of entertaining nonsense. TikTok has long since become an important part of digital pop culture.

But more and more American politicians now consider the dangers to national security to be so great that the app should no longer be banned only on company mobile phones. It was recently revealed that the Biden government even wants to force TikTok to sell its Chinese shares if the company wants to avoid a blanket ban. The Chinese government responded promptly. A Beijing Ministry of Commerce spokesperson announced that China would “resolutely resist” if the United States forced ByteDance to sell its stake in TikTok.

Such prohibition discussions are highly unusual in a country where entrepreneurship and the free market are more important than regulation. But because it’s rival China, even the feuding Democrats and Republicans can agree on a radical stance.

The dispute over Chinese influence over the United States through the TikTok app dates back to the administration of former US President Donald Trump. At the time, in June 2020, the platform was still celebrated by many as thousands of users organized to reserve tickets for a Trump event. When Trump appeared next, no one came. Even then, many did not like the fact that the president of the United States was presented to the world audience by teenagers using an app from China. Trump himself wanted to force a sale of TikTok. But it never came to that.

The front in the technology war

Security problems in the US are no accident. At the end of 2022, it became known that American journalists had been spied on via TikTok. The parent company ByteDance eventually admitted that an internal investigation had revealed that its own employees had used the data of American TikTok users. The employees were subsequently fired. The espionage scandal faded from the public eye again. But the suspicion in America has remained.

While the political discussion about TikTok in the US continues to rise to new heights, the discussion in Germany lags behind, as with Chinese telecom provider Huawei. Federal Secretary of the Interior Nancy Faeser is also in Washington during the week of the TikTok hearing. An important reason for her trip is also the coordination with the US government about espionage threats from China.

She sees no reason for a total ban on the app, says Faeser. But you need to explain more about the fact that TikTok is a company where “the data can flow naturally”. According to information from t-online, a TikTok ban has not yet been discussed at Robert Habeck’s Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The greater the resistance to TikTok in the US, the more the group lobbies in Washington. According to information from t-online, the company has just signed a lease for a large office in the Noma district, within walking distance of the US Congress.

TikTok boss Shou Zi Chew marched a large group of well-known TikTok users in front of the Capitol for his hearing. Many see their platform-based influencer business model under threat. TikTok builds on the push of 150 million US users who love the harmless entertainment app.

Whether or not TikTok is ultimately held in court for the suicide of 16-year-old Chase Nasca, American tech entrepreneur Jason Calacanis in 2022 fueled anti-China sentiment by blaming the government for the drug and American media use. He wrote on Twitter: “Fentanyl and TikTok: How the Chinese are quietly killing Americans”. One thing is already clear: TikTok has long been the front line in the technology war between the US and China.

Note: If you think a lot about your own death or are concerned about a fellow human being, you will find immediate and anonymous help here.