Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez expressed concerns over what she perceives as an emerging "authoritarian" trend as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to assume office. Her apprehension stems from TikTok's recent service outage and subsequent restoration, which the platform attributed to Trump's involvement.
In a series of Instagram stories, Ocasio-Cortez questioned TikTok's decision to publicly credit Trump, a private citizen at the time, with resolving the issue. She argued that this signaled a willingness to collaborate with the incoming administration, raising concerns about potential political influence over the platform.
The congresswoman went on to connect this incident with broader trends in social media, citing Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter (now X) and Mark Zuckerberg's decision to remove third-party fact-checkers from Meta platforms. She argued that these actions represent a right-wing takeover of online spaces, with platforms allegedly manipulating algorithms to favor conservative content. Ocasio-Cortez suggested TikTok might be following a similar path, potentially agreeing to algorithmic adjustments in exchange for favorable treatment from the Trump administration.
She characterized these developments as a "21st-century fascism" and an experiment in authoritarian control over information. While acknowledging that many will continue to utilize these platforms, she encouraged users to explore alternative spaces where they have greater control over their content and audience.
Ocasio-Cortez's comments come amidst ongoing debate surrounding TikTok's ownership and potential influence by the Chinese government. She notably voted against a bill signed by President Biden earlier this year that aimed to force TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to divest from the platform or face a ban in the U.S. The bill passed with bipartisan support, but a significant number of Democrats, including Ocasio-Cortez, opposed the measure.
