The American Parents Coalition (APC), a group dedicated to promoting parental rights and defending America’s children, launched a campaign on Friday intended to warn parents of the disastrous effects of the social media site TikTok on the country’s youth.
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“TikTok’s algorithm is every parent’s worst nightmare, targeting children with harmful and dangerous content, said APC founder Alleigh Marre on X, “Chinese-owned TikTok promotes content that glamorizes self-harm and eating disorders to young users within minutes of using the app.”
The campaign involves video advertisements, which will run in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Montana, showing how TikTok quickly funnels children towards videos which glamorize mental illness, including posts encouraging eating disorders, and self harm.
The advertisement calls attention to the significant differences between the content given to adult users by the Chinese owned TikTok algorithm, and the content delivered to American children.
“Adult and child experiences on Chinese owned TikTok look very different. Studies show 13-year-olds were recommended self-harm and eating disorder content within minutes,” said the APC’s ad.
The ad encourages parents to visit a page on the APC’s website which gives more specific information on what the social media site, used by China to spread propaganda, actually does to America’s youth.
“Some videos encountered in these studies promoted the idea of hiding symptoms of depression so users could ‘attempt [suicide] in private,’ said the APC.
In addition to pushing youth towards suicide and self harm, the website also promotes content used by terrorist organizations to recruit American youth into “jihad” against the U.S. and Jews.
The APC also pointed out the ubiquity of TikTok among youths, citing studies showing that, as of 2023, 41 percent of American minors use TikTok, each spending, on average, two hours per day on the Chinese propaganda site.
TikTok has become the most popular social media site among children in the world, and has generated billions of dollars in revenue from ads targeted at children.
Following the launch of the ad campaign, Marre appeared on ABC News’ Good Morning America to discuss the evils of the social media site, and the potential TikTok ban being considered at the federal level.
On Saturday, just one day after the APC campaign launched, the U.S. House voted overwhelmingly in favor of banning TikTok if it fails to divest of its connection to China.
The ban would give TikTok a maximum of 12 months to divest itself of Chinese interests before being removed from app stores across the country.
It passed with overwhelming house support, with a vote of 360-58.
The ban must now receive support from the senate before it will be given to President Joe Biden to sign into law.
A similar bill passed through the house earlier this month, but did not ultimately become law after resistance in the senate.
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The potential TikTok ban has revealed a split in the Conservative movement, with many legislators and parents rights advocates such as Marre supporting the ban as a way to combat the negative influence of China on American children, while others have opposed the bill.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) among other conservative senators has been vocal in his opposition to the ban, citing concerns that banning a social media platform constitutes an attack on the First Amendment.
Critics of the ban have expressed fears that it will be used as a template for the government to ban any social media sites which host content which disagree with prevailing government narratives.
The ban is likely to face legal challenges from TikTok itself, whose CEO, Shou Zi Chew, has vowed to oppose the legislation.
