Because TikTok is basically a way for the Chinese government to suck data out of your phone, and it has been characterized as “the digital equivalent of going down the street to a strip club filled with 15-year-olds,” I don’t think anyone should be on TikTok. I certainly don’t think any Republicans should be on TikTok, and I emphatically don’t think any GOP presidential candidate should be on TikTok.
But Vivek Ramaswamy tells us he was recently convinced to join TikTok after a discussion with . . . social-media influencer, boxer, and rapper Jake Paul.
Had dinner with @JakePaul on Sunday. He changed my mind and convinced me to join TikTok. Yes, kids under age 16 shouldn’t be using it, but the fact is that many young voters are & we’re not going to change this country without winning. We can’t just talk about the importance of…
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) September 13, 2023
I keep getting told to take Ramaswamy seriously, but the evidence keeps piling up that Ramaswamy himself isn’t taking any of this too seriously. It would still be wrong, but understandable, if Ramaswamy had reached his decision after a careful examination of the security and privacy issues and consulting with experts, and had found some way to object to the platform’s indefensible targeting of adult material to users under 18, and so on. But no, Ramaswamy was convinced to accept the risk of Chinese spyware in his smartphone by a social-media influencer whose past controversies “included but [are] not limited to accusations of sexual assault, a federal search warrant exercised on his property, COVID-19 hoax claims, accusations of scamming his fans and a looting and trespassing incident in an Arizona mall.”
(And, in painful irony, as people on Twitter have observed, one of the last people that Paul gave advice to was . . . New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, shortly before he ruptured his Achilles tendon and was knocked out for the remainder of the season. Not a great omen!)
Hey, if Jake Paul says something is worthwhile, it must be okay, right?
Still, in a Ramaswamy administration, I look forward to the fine work of Secretary of State Addison Rae.