Show me another company that convinced thousands of young teens to call their representatives, about anything. [0] If your rebuttal of that is that it’s a good thing kids called their representatives, my response would be, TikTok has proven to have enough influence to get kids to call congress. Think about that for a second. A singular entity controlled by China influences thousands of children to pass along the concerns of TIKTOK THE COMPANY.
It will be "watching funny dance videos", because that is what they were calling about this time, because it's what they care about.
You might believe that the next thing will be, "let China take over the Senkaku islands", but if so, you have not been around children in several decades.
No, in this case it was OVERT manipulation, not covert. The important word, however, is: manipulation.
I am so floored by comments in this thread either denying or not caring about literal brainwashing by a foreign adversary of the US.