Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told President Trump last October, that Chinese tech companies posed a direct threat to U.S. businesses.
The tech billionaire argued at a White House dinner with Trump, that the president should focus more effort on clamping down on Chinese firms, than trying to rein in U.S. tech companies over censorship.
According to Wall Street Journal, Zuckerberg also warned U.S. officials and lawmakers that Chinese tech firms pose a risk to American values and the country’s technological dominance. He reportedly noted that ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of the popular video-sharing app TikTok, does not have the same commitment to free expression that Facebook allegedly does.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) asked the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, last October, to investigate the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok to determine if it poses “national security risks.”
Given the size of TikTok’s audience, it is potentially a stiff competition to Facebook and Instagram. It’s possible that companies would rather pay for advertising space on TikTok.
Trump signed executive orders that will prohibit transactions with ByteDance.
White House trade advisor Peter Navarro told CNBC’s 'Squawk Box' on Monday that Zuckerberg has “zero influence” when it comes to TikTok and that the Wall Street Journal report which implied otherwise, has “zero credibility.”
A Facebook spokesperson told CNBC on Monday: “Mark has never advocated for a ban on TikTok. He has repeatedly said publicly that the biggest competitors to U.S. tech companies are Chinese companies, with values that don’t align with democratic ideals like free speech. It’s ludicrous to suggest that long-standing national security concerns -- raised by policymakers on both sides of the aisle -- have been shaped by Mark’s statements alone.”
Facebook and other big tech platforms have engaged in systematic censorship and de-platforming of conservatives just like their Chinese counterparts. But Zuckerberg prefers that the Trump administration focus on clamping down on the Chinese firms instead.