Elaine Ou, Columnist

Facebook and Twitter Should Borrow an Idea From TikTok

Big tech companies would be smart to let users see how they moderate content in real time.

August 9, 2020 at 10:00 PM UTC

Elaine Ou is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. She is a blockchain engineer at Global Financial Access in San Francisco. Previously she was a lecturer in the electrical and information engineering department at the University of Sydney.

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Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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President Donald Trump signed a pair of executive orders last week effectively banning two Chinese-owned apps, TikTok and WeChat, on the grounds of national security.

As far as national security threats go, user-generated data from a music video app is relatively low risk. A recent CIA assessment found no evidence that Chinese intelligence authorities have tried to intercept such data. A far bigger concern is the editorial control these companies might have over popular discourse. After all, we just spent four years arguing over Russia's use of social media to influence the 2016 elections.