Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg kindled security fears about TikTok among lawkers, Trump: Report

Facebook CEO diverted attention to threat posed by rising Chinese tech companies to avoid regulation of Facebook, says the report

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivered a speech on freedom of expression at Georgetown University in Washington DC last year to highlight the security concerns that rise from Chinese tech companies, especially TikTok, reported Wall Street Journal.

In his speech, he said that TikTok did not share the same commitment towards freedom of speech and expression that Facebook has towards the US. He said in his speech that TikTok threatens American values and technological supremacy.

Zuckerberg expressed the same to officials and legislators in Washington, the publication said quoting sources.

The report added that in a private dinner with President Donald Trump at the White House, he said that the tackling the rise of Chinese internet companies and the threat they pose to American technological supremacy is more important than imposing regulations on Facebook.

A White House spokesperson told the publication that the administration is committed to “protecting the American people from all cyber-related threats to critical infrastructure, public health and safety, and our economic and national security.”

Facebook Spokesperson Andy Stone told WSJ that Mark Zuckerberg had no recollection of discussing TikTok at the dinner.

Zuckerberg also discussed the matter of the rise of Chinese tech companies with several senators including Democrat and senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Tom Cotton who wrote a letter to intelligence officials demanding an inquiry into TikTok. The US government ordered a security review of the company soon after.

Other than the Facebook CEO’s outreach to legislators and the President, Facebook also has established an advocacy group called American Edge that is running ads praising American technology companies for their contributions to democracy, freedom of speech, national security and economic might.

According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, Facebook has spent more on lobbying than any other company in the first half of 2020. In 2018, the company ranked eighth in the list of those company that spent the most on lobbying.

US President Donald Trump earlier signed an executive order demanding TikTok’s parent company ByteDance divest its TikTok US operations.