China News Service, March 31. The Washington Post published a long article on the 30th, revealing that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, hired Targeted Victory, one of the largest pro-Republican consulting firms in the United States, to publish news across the United States. Smearing the overseas version of Douyin (TikTok), trying to start a national movement against TikTok.

Image source: Screenshot of the Washington Post report.

　　After TikTok became a short video platform favored by young Americans, it quickly attracted the attention of the US government and became the target of unwarranted suppression.

　　The Washington Post pointed out that Targeted Victory used a variety of methods to suppress TikTok, including publishing column articles and letters from readers in major news media across the United States, promoting articles originating from Facebook with questionable authenticity, and trying to attract political reporters and local politicians to help crush its biggest rival.

　　For example, in February 2022, a director of Targeted Victory wrote in an email that it was necessary to “deliver the message to the outside world that although Meta is a punching bag for the moment (the public), TikTok is the real threat, especially Yes, this product belongs to a foreign company, but it ranks first in terms of sharing young people's content."

　　There are also emails showing the consultancy urging partners to push local media to tie TikTok to dangerous teenage trends to prove the app is harmful.

One employee wrote: "It would be perfect if the story could be told under the title 'From Dance to Danger: How TikTok Became the Worst Social Media for Kids'."

　　The company also spread rumors to induce the media to report the "teacher slap challenge on TikTok", but it later turned out that there was no such challenge on TikTok, and the rumor originated on Facebook.

　　Internal emails obtained by The Washington Post also show that the consulting firm has discredited TikTok through media and lobbying activities, portraying the app, which has grown rapidly in recent years, as a major hazard to American children and society.

Additionally, campaigners are encouraged to use TikTok's popularity to deflect Meta's own privacy and antitrust concerns.

　　These naked tactics, long commonplace in politics, are now becoming more visible in the tech industry as well.

In an industry where companies compete for cultural influence, Facebook is under pressure to regain its younger users.

TikTok regularly surpasses Meta's popular Facebook and Instagram as one of the most downloaded apps in the world.

It follows reports that Facebook researchers said teens spend "2-3 times" as much time on TikTok as they do on Instagram, and Facebook's popularity among young people has plummeted.

In February 2022, Meta announced that Facebook experienced negative user growth for the first time in its 18-year history.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has told investors that TikTok is a huge obstacle.

He also said in his opening remarks to the 2020 House Antitrust Subcommittee hearing that TikTok is "the fastest growing app."

　　Targeted Victory declined to answer questions about the operation, saying only that it had worked with Meta for years and that the company was "proud of the work done."