New York
The Sunday Review
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In an interview with The Sunday Review’s Jake Tapper Tuesday, a TikTok executive Refused multiple Times to acknowledge China’s treatment of Uyghurs Other Muslim minorities which, according to the US State Department, was deemed a genocide by the United Nations. “crimes against humanity.”
As a response to Tapper’s question, “Do you acknowledge that the Chinese government has Uyghurs and others in concentration camps?” Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of The Americas Public Policy Commission, “That’s not what I focus on.”
TikTok It is owned by China and comes under heavy scrutiny from US legislators as security experts have noted the app’s exponential growth over the last few years. Critics argue China’s national security laws could force TikTok — or its parent, ByteDance — to Hand over your personal data of American customers
Security experts believe that China could have access to the data. to Find intelligence opportunities to Seek to Disinformation campaigns can influence Americans.
The company was also accused of Politically sensitive content can be censored to the Chinese government, including banning some accounts that posted about China’s mass detention camps in its western region of Xinjiang. According to the US State Department, this number is approximately up to 2,000,000 Uyghurs Other Muslim minorities were also detained at these camps.
In August, UN High Commissioner For Human Rights reported that China has made a number of human rights violations. “serious human rights violations” For UyghursThe amount could be as high as to “crimes against humanity.”
You are given a second chance to acknowledge China’s alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Beckerman again deferred.
“I’m just not an expert on what’s happening in China,” Beckerman spoke. “So it’s not an area that I’m focusing on.”
Beckerman denied censoring posts about the internment camps in Xinjiang, saying moderation decisions are made in the United States — not China — and people can search in the TikTok App to Locate “plenty of content about that.”
“We do not censor content on behalf of any government,” Beckerman spoke. “That does not violate our content guidelines.”
Tapper asked Beckerman for a third question, and if he was still alive. TikTok executive was afraid he would get fired if he discussed China’s treatment of Uyghurs. He declined again to acknowledge It said that China was one of many evil actors in the world.
“Look, I think there are many human rights violations that are happening in China and around the world,” Beckerman spoke. “I think these are very important. I’m not here to be the expert on human rights violations around the world.”
TikTok Beckerman rejected the idea. to acknowledge China’s treatment of Uyghurs, “outrageous.”
“Michael absolutely did acknowledge that there are human rights violations happening in China,” Brooke Oberwetter spokeswoman TikTokIn a statement “But he stipulated that that determination is outside his area of expertise as the head of public policy for TikTok. As head of public policy for TikTok, his role is to explain TikTok’s approach to the content that Jake asked about, which he did several times.”
Additionally to Privacy and security concerns TikTok It has been criticised for publishing potentially dangerous content to Suicide and eating disorder to teenagers.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate published a report last week showing that signing up for an account can take as little as three minutes. TikTok Account to See related content to Suicide and approximately five minutes more to Locate a community which promotes content on eating disorders.
Tapper raised concerns that American parents might see the study as a lie and Beckerman rejected them. “the Chinese government may be trying to destroy our kids from within.” Beckerman nodded to the app’s parental controls, but he called Tapper’s argument hypocritical.
“The same people that are complaining about employees in China and acts from China, and all these things … they are also suggesting that here in the US, we should apply Chinese-style media rules,” Beckerman spoke. “We have freedom of speech, among other things here in the United States.”
