Finnish MEP, Doctor of Social Sciences specializing in EU policy, Aura Salla, called for banning TikTok in the EU as a security threat in her speech at the European Parliament plenary session.
MEP Aura Salla (National Coalition Party / EPP) considers TikTok a threat to European democracy.
“Every user of this Chinese platform should understand that the second you log in to TikTok, you start giving your behavioral data to the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian propaganda machine for them to develop their services,” warned MEP Salla in her speech at the European Parliament plenary.
Russia has been able to influence elections in other countries through TikTok. MEP Salla describes Russia’s communication and hybrid operations as terrorism.
“When you click that cat video on TikTok or scroll to see your favorite influencer’s page, you help terrorist countries like Russia to have a more impactful and more harmful tool to spread their disinformation. The concrete results of which we now see in Romania,” stated MEP Salla.
For years, attention in the EU has focused on data flowing to the United States and how American companies develop social media using it. However, similar concern has not been shown for the data collected through TikTok by China’s authoritarian regime, which benefits not only China but also Russia’s dictator, Putin.
“We should ban TikTok in Europe until we can ensure it cannot be weaponised to distort democracy and spread Russian propaganda. It is our duty to defend our democracy, our values, and protect our people from Putin’s terrorism in any way we can,” MEP Salla concluded her plenary speech.
Member of the European Parliament, Doctor of Social Sciences
aura.salla@europarl.europa.eu
0032 2 28 45736 (Brussels)
0033 3 88 1 75736 (Strasbourg)
Policy Advisor
jarkko.nissinen@europarl.europa.eu
+32 47 226 4142
