Sign your name to our petition below!
Dear member of Congress,
As the scrutiny of the social media platform TikTok intensifies, it’s becoming increasingly obvious to the American people that the US government is spreading propaganda about “security concerns” to drive fear and war towards China.
While citing security risks to target TikTok, which is operated by a Chinese-owned American company,, the US government is performing surveillance on its own people. In 2013, Edward Snowden told the whole world the truth about the US mass surveillance programs both internationally and domestically. It was only last year that the post 9-11 National Security Agency phone surveillance program was finally shut down. Major telecom companies like Verizon gave the government access to hundreds of millions user call and text data
Social media has long been a tool used by federal agencies to target individuals and communities designated as “threat.” The Department of Homeland Security and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement have monitored the social media activities of immigrant rights activists. The State Department used social media screening to discriminate against the Muslim, Arab, Middle Eastern, and South Asian communities under the Trump administration’s “Muslim ban.” In 2020, DHS used social media to surveil protesters in Portland, OR. The Federal Bureau of Investigation tracked organizers through social media and made wrongful arrests based on online comments. An FBI official was so frustrated with the overwhelming social media surveillance that he told the Intercept, “Man, I don’t even know what’s legal anymore.”
The dissonance between accusing TikTok of security concerns and working with other companies to invade people’s privacy rings loudly in our ears. The American people know the ongoing effort to investigate and ban TikTok is not about our privacy, but about fueling more aggression against China. Fear-mongering about China has also caused the rise of anti-Asian racism in the US. The American people want our lawmakers to stop driving hate to monger war, and instead to lead with love to promote peace.
We ask you to vote NO on present and future legislations that seek to scrutinize or ban TikTok, including the “No TikTok on the United States Devices Act” in the House of Representative and the “RESTRICT Act” in the Senate.
We also ask you to affirm in a constituent email or a social media post voicing your opposition to these legislations, as well as the ongoing investigations on TikTok by the FBI and DOJ and the House Select Committee on China, and affirm your commitment to peace and cooperation with China.
If our lawmakers are concerned about protecting digital privacy, then Congress should start with investigating American federal agencies. Unlike China as well as other Western countries, such as the EU, the US does not have any digital privacy laws on the federal level. The US could cooperate with China to better ensure people’s privacy is protected, instead of driving fear to target one single social media platform.
Sincerely,