The Wall Street Journal writes that Mark Zuckerberg may have used a private meeting with Donald Trump to hurt TikTok. The reason is to push for the US to target TikTok.
Then, The Facebook CEO made both public statements and private exhortations over the warning posed by his competitor during his visit to Washington DC late last year.
In addition, the paper states that it was after the Zuckerberg meeting the senators. The strategy was about starting to raise questions about the health of TikTok.
Furthermore, Senator Josh Hawley’s spokesperson suggests about TikTok.
The use of TikTok aimed to divert from Facebook’s own regulatory issues. And also, get lawmakers to smash a competitor.
Kelli Ford quoted that alarmism on Facebook is a “PR strategy to improve one’s own credibility.”
The report adds that Facebook spends record amounts on lobbying, and has launched an advocacy group, American Edge, to boost U.S. tech firms in DC.
For its part, TikTok has pointed accusatory fingers at Facebook, saying it’s trying to use politics to damage a rival.
In July, CEO Kevin Mayer published an open letter calling Facebook out for launching an “another copycat product […] after their other copycat, Lasso, failed quickly.” Mayer added that Facebook was launching “maligning attacks by our competitor — namely Facebook — disguised as patriotism and designed to put an end to our very presence in the U.S.”
Trump’s Executive Prohibits TikTok for the U.S. Citizen
In addition, Trump’s executive order prohibits transactions with TikTok’s owner ByteDance from mid-September.
As a matter of fact, officials in Washington are concerned that the company could pass data on American users to the Chinese government, something ByteDance has denied doing.
TikTok says it has never handed over any US data user to Chinese authorities.
Mr. Trump’s actions against TikTok and WeChat are the latest in a growing campaign against China ahead of the US presidential election in November.
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