Alyssa Farah Griffin slams TikTok as Chinese government weapon despite “The View” having verified account
"The View" cohost's show currently has 3.5 million followers on the video-sharing platform.
The View star, former Donald Trump employee, face cream formula visionary, and cherry sweater-wearing fashion icon Alyssa Farah Griffin has accused TikTok of nefarious dealings with the Chinese government — despite her parent show having a verified account on the site.
"Republicans should go ahead and throw away their 'tough on China' talking points if they don’t support selling off TikTok, a weapon of the Chinese Communist Party," the 34-year-old Republican tweeted Tuesday, alleging that the popular video-sharing social media platform — which originated from ByteDance, a Chinese technology company — is a tool of foreign officials.
EW has reached out to TikTok and a representative for The View for comment. A publicly available section on its website addresses TikTok's ties to China amid an uptick in political focus on the service, with the platform claiming that "roughly 60 percent of the company is beneficially owned by global institutional investors such as Carlyle Group, General Atlantic, and Susquehanna International Group" and is not entirely Chinese-owned. It also maintains that it's primarily an "entertainment app," and that none of its five members on the board of directors are "a part of any government or state entity."
The View's TikTok profile has 3.5 million followers and is a verified account on the site, which regularly reposts clips of Griffin's talking points from the show's live broadcasts — most recently including her assessment of Joe Biden's performance during last week's State of the Union address, which she said exceeded low expectations because the president didn't die while delivering his speech.
Republicans should go ahead and throw away their “tough on China” talking points if they don’t support selling off TikTok, a weapon of the Chinese Communist Party.
— Alyssa Farah Griffin (@Alyssafarah) March 12, 2024
According to a quick search on TikTok, Griffin does not appear to have an individual account, though she is active on Instagram and Twitter.
The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
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