The China threat is overblown — it loves America too much

John Tamny is president of the Parkview Institute and editor of RealClearMarkets.

The warning from Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho) was blunt: “China’s control of TikTok poses one of the greatest threats to Americans’ health, privacy, and safety. Our kids and grandkids are particularly vulnerable to falling under the manipulation of the Chinese Communist Party.”

The fight over the social media platform, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, blew up in 2024 when Congress passed a law to ban or force the sale of TikTok. In a rare show of bipartisanship, Democrats and Republicans expressed deep concerns over risks of the Chinese government gaining access to the data — and minds — of Americans. The fear is that the Chinese Communist Party will turn TikTok’s 170 million users in the United States