TikTok Fuels and Exploits America’s Political Divide. This Must End.

In the immediate aftermath of the Trump assassination attempt—literally minutes after the bullet grazed flesh—social media networks were inundated with misinformation and conspiracy theories, polluting the minds of the American public. The most notorious culprit was TikTok. Regardless of whether the misinformation came from the left or the right, the narratives were equally disruptive: claims it was a Republican false flag operation, actions of transgender activists, or interventions by the deep state emerged. America’s adversaries are indifferent to the source of these claims; they just aim to fuel the fury.

That day must have surprised and pleased these adversaries alike. By allowing TikTok, an entity under Chinese control, to operate in the lead-up to the 2024 election, the US has essentially provided its chief geopolitical rival with a conduit to amplify polarization among its citizens. While it could shut down this pipeline, it appears to lack the will to do so.

The notion that shutting down a social media network contradicts American values and the First Amendment is easily debunked. In 2022, I published a book titled “The Next Civil War,” examining the various factors contributing to today’s political turmoil: hyper-partisanship, inequality, and declining trust in institutions. Many elements contribute to this. However, if one had to pinpoint when American political sanity began to crumble, it would likely be the Reagan Administration’s 1987 decision to overturn the Fairness Doctrine. This regulation required broadcasters to present contrasting views on controversial topics equally. Its removal marked the beginning of Americans’ intellectual and spiritual isolation, the erosion of factual power, and the demise of a common language for discussing differences.

Future historians will likely find this paralysis inexplicable. Cybersecurity for Democracy, an independent think tank focused on online threats, has identified TikTok as a “key spreader of misinformation” due to its algorithm prioritizing resonant videos over authoritative information. Despite understanding that this technology is filling the nation with ever more dangerous rage and fracturing consensus reality, the US allows it to continue undermining the foundations of American political life.

Ironically, TikTok itself seems to realize its precarious position. Last month, it confirmed offering a “kill switch” to the US government in 2022, granting the government explicit authority to suspend the platform in the United States. The offer was ignored, and in April, legislation was passed giving parent company ByteDance until January 2025 to divest from Chinese investment or face a ban.

But January is not soon enough. The Republic could fall by then. After Kamala Harris announced her presidential candidacy, a manipulated video of her speech slurring her words went viral on TikTok. It was posted thousands of times and viewed by millions before being removed from the site. If a kill switch exists, the President must activate it immediately. Not tomorrow. Today.

The FCC had imposed the Fairness Doctrine in 1949, after World War II, learning from the rise of fascism in Europe. In 1969, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the doctrine was not only constitutional but also “essential to democracy.” They recognized that mass media—then radio—was too powerful to be left solely to market forces. What applied to radio is exponentially more relevant to social media platforms today. These are not merely channels for expression but political weapons. An updated Fairness Doctrine for the 21st century would at least require social media companies to assume public responsibility commensurate with their power. Unfortunately, our current era seems doomed to relearn the harsh lessons of fascism’s rise, now magnified by accelerated and unrestricted networks.

Regulating mass media is a matter of democratic survival. The abandonment of the Fairness Doctrine transformed America’s information landscape into a cesspool. We live with these consequences. With TikTok, China saw an opportunity and seized it. They don’t need a physical foothold in Taiwan when they have a psychological stronghold in the American mind. “At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected?” Abraham Lincoln asked in his famous Lyceum address. “I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.”

China is strategic. Its leaders understand that democracies can’t really be destroyed; they can only be nudged towards self-destruction. Fortuitously for China, they gained access to a democracy-destroying tool just as America’s leadership became too aged and detached to grasp the threat. The situation is straightforward: A foreign government has control over a polarizing vector. It uses this instrument to disseminate social and political chaos, jeopardizing democracy and leading to internal violence and global decline.

TikTok’s continued operation isn’t about freedom of speech; it’s a national security issue. Everyone knows that the 2024 election is a battle for American democracy’s survival. The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Trump v. United States granted the executive branch unprecedented powers. The Biden Administration must employ these powers now or risk losing the Republic.