- TikTok is an “AI-powered weapon of subversion” used by the CCP, says OpenAI investor Vinod Khosla.
- Khosla said the platform could be used by China to “surreptitiously manipulate American citizens.”
- “TikTok is a programmable fentanyl whose effects are under the control of the CCP,” he said.
Billionaire and early OpenAI supporter Vinod Khosla says he supports the forced spinoff of social media platform TikTok from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
In March, Congress passed a bill banning TikTok in the United States if ByteDance did not sell its U.S. operations to non-Chinese owners.
“Neither I nor my company stand to gain or lose anything from the outcome of this bill, but I can see how TikTok can be weaponized by a foreign adversary,” Khosla wrote in an op-ed. for the Financial Times on Tuesday.
In the op-ed, Khosla accuses China of perpetuating double standards since Chinese consumers use the Chinese variant of TikTok, Douyin. And unlike TikTok, Douyin users aged 14 and under can only be on the platform for 40 minutes per day.
“Spinach for Chinese children, fentanyl – another major export from China – for ours,” Khosla said. “Even worse, TikTok is a programmable fentanyl whose effects are under the control of the CCP. »
Getting ByteDance to sell TikTok, Khosla said, is about “preventing a foreign adversary from controlling a platform” that can “surreptitiously manipulate American citizens” and “promote the goals of the Chinese Communist Party.”
“TikTok uses an algorithm powered by advanced artificial intelligence. And it is in the hands of the CCP,” Khosla wrote.
“Recognizing that TikTok is an AI-powered weapon of subversion, we should view it as we do other weapons and materials relevant to our country and the national defense industry,” he said. continued, adding that the United States has banned Huawei routers due to similar national security concerns. .
Chinese Foreign Ministry officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside of normal business hours.
Khosla isn’t the only person who has suspicions about TikTok.
About three in five Americans, or 60%, surveyed by the Pew Research Center in 2023 said they view the platform as a threat to national security.
It probably doesn’t help that Chinese propaganda actors have been accused of using TikTok to influence US elections.
The US intelligence community claimed in its annual threat assessment report released in March that China’s propaganda arm used TikTok accounts to target Republican and Democratic Party candidates in the 2022 midterm elections .
Representatives for TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.
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