UNN’s Oliver Down can today reveal that the founder and CEO of TikTok’s parent company has vowed to use his company to endorse “socialist core values” as well as fostering adherence to the Chinese Communist party’s “ideology, political thinking, and deeds”.
Zhang Yiming revealed his 1,000-word essay in 2018 after China’s State Administration of Radio and Television banned his first app for what it felt was “improper” content. Mr Yiming posted the letter onto WeChat which he also owns. The apology began with Yiming admitting his original app contravened “socialist core values”.
The text said, “In the past, we have placed too much emphasis on the role of technology and failed to realize that socialist core values are the prerequisite to technology”. Yiming added that the most “deep-seated problems for the company” included “a weak understanding of the “four consciousness”.
The “Four consciousness” is a term chosen by President Xi Jinping, which include conformation to the CCP’s “ideology, political thinking, and deeds”. Yiming has repeatedly insisted that his app TikTok has no links to the CCP but admits in this letter in 2018 (2 years after TikTok was released in 2016) that TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has received “a lot of guidance and help” from “the authorities”.
This has led some to warn against the rumoured acquisition of TikTok by Microsoft with some feeling an outright banning of the app from the US would be the most prudent way forward. The Twitter user @poncho29558656 responded to these reports by saying “Ban TikTok and all other CCP activities in the US”.
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Current Affairs Correspondent | My name is Oliver Down I am 22, and a staunch brexiteer. I am a Bristolian lad who studied politics in Leicester. I believe in free speech and accurate journalism and I won’t be afraid to give you “the other side” of the story!
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