Americans may not care if their personal data ends up in the hands of the Chinese government. After all, you don’t live in China, so you might think it doesn’t affect you. But data privacy isn’t the biggest threat here.
In China, unless someone travels abroad, the only way for most people to use TikTok, Facebook, or X is to first connect through a VPN—something that is technically illegal and not officially sanctioned by the Chinese government. Yet, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—especially its Foreign Ministry, Propaganda Department, and state-run media—has dedicated access to the global internet. In other words, the CCP operates a massive propaganda machine that uses political power to shape and infiltrate global discourse, pushing its ideology outward.
Yes, I understand that cultural or ideological competition is mutual—you might even say that what I’m doing here is ideological expression. But have you considered this: if TikTok is controlled by the CCP, I wouldn’t even be able to post what I’m saying now. My account would vanish, just like countless others have disappeared from Chinese domestic platforms. This isn’t a fair playing field. Why should the CCP have platforms to promote its views while ordinary citizens who oppose it are silenced?
If you support the CCP, you’re free to praise it—here or on China’s own platforms. You won’t need to deal with firewalls or VPNs. You’ll have direct access to all the apps you want. But if a Chinese citizen wants to voice criticism of the CCP—say, on TikTok or Facebook—they have to jump through hoops just to be heard. So why is it that you can move freely online, the CCP can move freely online, but ordinary Chinese people cannot? This is why we say: in China, only one voice is allowed.
If the CCP gains control of more and more platforms, censoring and erasing all dissent, eventually the entire world will echo just one voice.
If diversity disappears—if the CCP controls every corner of discourse—this won’t only affect me. It will affect you. It will affect your children. It will erode the universal values you once believed in. Disney fairy tales might vanish. You’ll have to learn to first pledge loyalty to the Party. In schools, kids will be required to have identical haircuts, uniforms, and do synchronized exercises. (And no—I’m not describing a prison, I’m describing actual schools.) From primary school, children must join the Young Pioneers and study “Xi Jinping Thought”—even though no one really understands what it is. By college, Marxism-Leninism is mandatory coursework. One day, when you’re blowing out candles on a birthday cake, you might worry about whether the cake’s shape will offend the Party—like in the case of Chinese influencer Li Jiaqi, whose fan sent a tank-shaped cake, interpreted as a reference to June 4th. He was banned.
Is that the world you want?
Do you remember why the American Founders wrote the Declaration of Independence? Why the Bill of Rights exists? Have you forgotten the sacrifices made for freedom? Love and hope must not be erased by the CCP. The CCP does not represent the Chinese people. The people of China long for freedom, too.
We are always standing together.