Unreal

Dallas TX

Description

The White House welcomed popular personalities from the Chinese social media platform TikTok to deliver a briefing on the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the influencers. During the briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki pushed a claim that the 2016 election was "hacked" by Russians. The White House spoke to 30 "top TikTok stars" on a Zoom call on Thursday, according to the Washington Post. The White House has been closely watching TikTok's rise as a dominant news source, leading to its decision to approach a select group of the platform's most influential names. This week, the administration began working with Gen Z For Change, a nonprofit advocacy group, to help identify top content creators on the platform to orchestrate a briefing aimed at answering questions about the conflict and the United States' role in it. Psaki told the influencers, "Thank you all for everything you're doing. I mean, use of your platforms to educate, to inform, to debunk, to demystify, during what is a very tumultuous, heartbreaking time in the world is remarkable, and we recognize and value all of your platforms." The platform the influencers use is the Beijing-based short-form video app TikTok – which has been scrutinized for potentially having security risks. The Department of Defense stated that the social media app features "potential security risks associated with its use." In 2020, the U.S. Army, and Navy prohibited TikTok from being used on government-issued phones. Last July, the massively popular social media app gave itself permission to collect biometric data of U.S. users – which includes faceprints and voiceprints.