Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., told Newsmax on Wednesday that "TikTok has without a doubt become part of the surveillance state" of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Smith, speaking ahead of TikTok CEO Shou Zi's testimony before Congress, said on "National Report" Wednesday that Xi spies "with absolute impunity on his own land in China."
The congressman added, "Everybody is monitored, and this is part of an aggressive information-gathering and all-out effort to change the culture here in the United States."
He continued, "They do it with a lot of other initiatives as well, so-called soft power, and I think TikTok has got to go. It is a malign influence on our young people, but it's especially who's behind it, and that is the Chinese Communist Party."
Smith went on to criticize what he described as the "ongoing effort by the Chinese Communist Party to inventory basically every single person that uses it [TikTok] in the United States and elsewhere in the world, and it's part of an all-out effort by Xi Jinping to bring about a positive look at China."
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