AOC warns Trump’s TikTok turnaround proves ‘this is the eve of 21st century authoritarian…fascism’
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., claimed Sunday was the “eve” of an “authoritarian” regime like President-elect Donald Trump is about to take office.
Ocasio-Cortez posted on her Instagram story series of videos discussing the fallout after TikTok restarted services in the US after locking out users for approximately 12 hours on Saturday night. TikTok released a statement saying it was changing direction “as a result of President Trump’s efforts.”
Ocasio-Cortez took issue with the statement, suggesting it was a sign that TikTok was capitulating to the right.
“First of all, Donald Trump is not the president right now,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “He’s a private citizen. He doesn’t have access to presidential powers. He doesn’t have the ability to do any of that. So, like, please understand that TikTok’s decision to name Trump there is a choice in the notification. They let it be known that they cooperate privately. They have agreed to work privately with Donald Trump and the Trump administration.”
TikTok credited President-elect Donald Trump with helping to reactivate services. (Getty Images)
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She continued, “And despite all these concerns that people have been saying that TikTok is going to be used as a propaganda tool by the Chinese, understand that they’re using it as a propaganda tool for the right. Now, I want everyone to put all the pieces together because this really means that every social media platform, a mass social media platform in the United States taken over by the right.”
Ocasio-Cortez referred to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter (renamed X) and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that remove third-party fact-checking programs as other examples of right-wing control. She further claimed that TikTok is following the example of other sites that have “artificially manipulated the algorithm to encourage right-wing content”.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attacked social media platforms like X and Meta for bowing to pressure from the right. ((Left: REUTERS/Brian Snyder, Right: REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger) )
“TikTok is now saying ‘hey, we agree. We’re going to use our push notification system to all 170 million US users to promote Donald Trump,'” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Just understand that government posts like these with companies never name politicians. They’ll usually name a law or a policy. TikTok specifically agrees to do that. And if I’m a betting man, they’re probably colluding with Donald Trump not to use only and push notifications, they would likely consider algorithmic changes.”
She predicted that TikTok’s actions would be a precursor to Republican control of the media.
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‘So what does that mean for us? Well, we are on the threshold of an authoritarian administration. This is what 21st century fascism is starting to look like,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“This is a time of experimentation,” she added. “A lot of people will still use the platforms, they can still use the platforms, but I’m also looking towards places where you have more ownership and you grow your audience there.”
Ocasio-Cortez was one of several Democrats who voted against a bill to potentially ban TikTok in the US (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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The original bill aimed at forcing Chinese-owned company ByteDance to divest from TikTok was signed by President Biden in April. He gave the company nine months to sell the app or risk being banned in the US
The bill was adopted with huge bipartisan support on 352-65 votes in the House of Representatives. Sixty Democrats, including Ocasio-Cortez, voted against the bill.
