RADIODecember 01, 2022

THIS is why TikTok is a ‘NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT’

It’s not news that TikTok — owned by Chinese firm ByteDane — tracks data on U.S. users. But how dangerous is it REALLY for China to have your information if you’re doing nothing wrong? It’s extraordinary dangerous. In fact, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr joins Glenn to explain exactly why the social media app poses a ‘national security threat’ against America...

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So this guy is the guy they -- they call him the FCC's 5G crusader. He's the guy who cut all of the red tape. And really pushed for the high speed networks to be built by private businesses.

He is -- he's also the guy who is rough the big forces behind telehealth. Mainly -- mainly for veterans and low income Americans, to be able to get to doctors on their smartphones or tablets or any other connected device, driving down the price, and driving up the access to medicine all around the country. And he also, like micro and I, believe in apprenticeships and everything else. This is -- I think this guy is a real warrior for what we believe are American truths. His name is Brendan Carr. He is a commissioner with the FCC. Brendan, how are you, sir?

BRENDAN: Glenn, so good to join you. Really appreciate the chance to be with you.

Big fan of everything you're doing. And listen, if you ever get in trouble at the FCC, if anybody files for profanity, or indecency complaint against you, just don't mention you know me. It will go a lot better for you.

GLENN: Yeah. I know.

BRENDAN: You and I never talked. That's your story going forward.

GLENN: I know. I know. I know how this works. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about two things. Let's start with TikTok. Everybody in the tech industry seems to be against Twitter. I mean, it's crazy by letting people talk, how they are being accused of destroying free speech.

It's an upside down world.

But TikTok, nobody seems to want to do anything about this. I've read your letter. I've read your report on this. TikTok is extraordinarily dangerous to Americans. Can you fill in, why it's a danger and why everybody in America seems to be focused on Twitter, including the White House, and not TikTok?

BRENDAN: Well, it's quite amazing. And you know TikTok is an example of this. And as we may get into Apple as well. When your product is, for better or worse, immensely popular with consumers. It's amazing what you can get away with, and I think TikTok is the prime example of this. It has millions and millions of Americans. They look at it like, well, it's just a fun platform for sharing videos and dance memes. And the reality is, that's just the clothing.

Underneath, it operates as a very sophisticated surveillance technology. Right in the terms of service, they reserve the right to get your biometrics, including face prints or voiceprints, searching browsing history, key stroke patterns. The list goes on from there. And for years, they said, don't worry, this is stored outside of Beijing. Not a big deal.

Even though our parent company is based in Beijing. And, well, that's been revealed as nothing more than gaslighting. It turns out that according to internal communications, quote, everything is seen inside of China. And that's a massive, massive problem.

In fact, their CEO was testifying in Congress, a couple weeks ago, and was asked point-blank. Do you transfer US user data to employees in Beijing, who themselves are members of the CCP. And the COO said she declined to answer that question. So that's troubling. There's also this question that came out, that they had this Beijing-based operation, that was attempting to surveil the location of specific Americans based on their usage of the TikTok application. And that's not to mention obviously, the concerns that come from the content side, where Americans, including children as young as ten years old, are being fed things like the blackout challenge.

That literally can convince them to kill themselves, and some have done that, and died as a result. So it's a national security threat, and it's something that parents should be worried about as well.

GLENN: So explain this to -- because I tried to explain this to my family. My kids were like, yeah. Right. Dad. Got it. What is China going to do with my face print or my fingerprint. Can you explain why that's dangerous?

BRENDAN: Yeah. It really is. And if you want to think about it, there's a version of TikTok itself is not available in Beijing.

But a version of it called Doiann (phonetic), a sister app run by the parent company, and that application shows his science experiments, museum exhibits, educational material. And then again, here in the US, it's showing kids, the blackout challenge. So that's where the real danger comes. Also, if you step back, what really happens when you're using TikTok. Every time you swipe or search, what you're doing is you're feeding, training, and improving China's artificial intelligence, their AI.

And China has said, we want to dominate the world in AI by 2030. And they will use it for authoritarian purposes. For surveillance. For exploiting their control. Even if you step back from your own self and your own kids. And you can TikTok itself. The idea that we're sending this data, these clips back to Beijing, it's improving their AI. And that will around and bite us in ways that are, again, unrelated to TikTok itself.

GLENN: So we have Google doing the same thing. That's why Google is free. Is they wanted all that information, to work on AI.

So you're saying, this is just another version of Google, if you will. That's here in America. To be able to mine for all of that information.

BRENDAN: Yeah. You're right. China has a fundamental flaw, both in their system of government, obviously. But it carries through to AI. Which is they don't have feedback loops. They don't understand sort of Western-free thinking.

And so they need Americans to be on TikTok, to be observing their usage of data, in order to create their AI and make it a healthy system. So the sooner we cut off, data flows back to Beijing, the sooner their version of AI starts to atrophy, and go down a separate path. And it becomes less successful.

So I think we do need to think broadly, how do we stop training China's artificial intelligence. Again, that's a piece of it. It's used for blackmail. It's use for foreign influence campaign.

And where things are right now. Is this is in the court of the Biden information.

The Treasury Department has a group called Cepheus (phonetic), Committee on Foreign Investment. And they've been reviewing TikTok for over a year, at this point. And the New York Times reports that they've got a preliminary deal in place to allow TikTok to continue to operate. Frankly, I think this is a big IQ test for the administration. And it's sort of a pass/fail at this point.

And, in fact, you just had FBI director Chris Ray testify last week in Congress, that said, that the FBI had serious national security concerns.

So I don't see how the Biden administration can go forward and bless TikTok, continue to operate.

When you have the FBI, when you have Democrats, Senator Mark Warner, chair of the Senate Intel Committee saying that it is TikTok, that scares the dickens out of him. But we may very well be heading in that direction there.

GLENN: Google Play store. Apple app store. I know you wrote a letter to both of them. And said, drop. Drop this. This is really bad for the country.

BRENDAN: Yeah. I mean, putting aside the content of what's inside this application, Google and Apple have very clear terms of service to stay in the app store. And if data is being used for purposes that aren't being disclosed. Or if data is traveling the country, and being accessed from countries without that being properly disclosed.

There's precedent for Google and Apple to boot us off the app store for that reason.

So I wrote them a letter, and said, look, in light of the national security concerns, in light of these clearly surreptitious data flows that we're now learning about, just apply the terms of your app store policies, and boot them from the app store. Of course they didn't do that. And that's why you know it's obviously highly ironic. That there was at least the concern this week. That Apple might take action against TikTok. Because, look, if you're pulling advertising dollars, pulling support in Apple's case potentially from Twitter. While keeping your support or expanding your advertising on TikTok, you're sending quite the signal about your brand value. It's very different than the one you think.

GLENN: Oh, I know. Yeah. One last thing. Because I have something else, I want to talk to you about. One last thing. You just kind of brushed up on this. I think it was critical. There's a new survey out that showed, I can't remember. Six or eight out of ten children in China, want to be astronauts. And want to be scientists.

Here, eight in ten, want to be social media movers. Influencers. Yeah.

BRENDAN: Influencers.

GLENN: That's crazy. And part of that is because of TikTok. As you said, they're -- this same thing, under a different name over in China, is encouraging people to do crazy, great things.

And science. And knowledge. And education.

And this same platform, is programmed here, to really make you as dumb as a box of rocks. I don't think that's -- I don't think that's just -- oh, really. I didn't even notice that. That's intentional.

BRENDAN: Yeah. You're right. And this is why I talked about TikTok as China's digital fentanyl, because it is effectively a pipe directly from Beijing, from the CCP, into the ears and eyes and minds of millions and millions of America's youth. And what they're being served is divisive content. It's content that is increasing ADHD problem. Suicide ideations. Body image issues. This is what is being fed to us.

And that's -- that's deeply -- deeply concerning. And that's why I think, it's incumbent upon the Biden administration to step in and take some action here.

GLENN: Brendan Carr, FCC commissioner. If you don't mind, I need to take a one-minute break. Because I'm actually being funded by you know the private industry and market. But take one minute, we'll be back. With Brendan Carr. FCC commissioner.

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So, Brendan, I have a philosophical question. And I would like you, if you would, noodle this out.

I tried to contact you a few weeks ago. Because I was presented with a story, of a book that was in a school library. And being read to kids in school. And it was one of the most vile things, I have ever read.

And look, I've done this for 40-plus years. I know exactly what I can and can't say with the FCC. Okay?

And I've always understood those to be community standards. Et cetera, et cetera.

Here's my -- here's my problem. There are times, when things need to be heard by the general public. And I know we can go online and do it, et cetera, et cetera.

But why, when we are a community standards-based system, if -- if you can teach it to my children, and have it in the classroom, why can't I -- a program that is aimed at adults and during the day, when kids should be in school. Why can't I read that book on the air?

BRENDAN: Well, you're right. We still have in place at the FCC rules that apply to broadcast radio and broadcast television that regulate profanity and decency. Similar content, like that. It obviously hasn't been enforced very much, in the last few years. But they're still in the books. There is a point at which, potentially, you reading things from across the broadcast airwaves. That may be found in a library, somewhere.

Could have issues, under the FCC's you know profanity. And decency regulations. Now, of course, there tends to be a newsworthy exception to a lot of that stuff. You can cover issues and stuff like that.

It's a challenge. And some people say, how you generally square this pro speech. Free speech view, with that type of stuff.

And I would say, look, what we can speak of, as adults. Is really different than the content that can be stocking the shelves for school libraries for kindergarteners.

GLENN: Yeah. My problem is, this is a show that is based on information and opinion. You may not like it. But we -- we take it seriously. We take our job seriously.

We try to be responsible. I've always been responsible with the FCC. And it's not a -- you know a 1990s Howard Stern kind of thing. Which we're way past that.

This is -- this is being read to our students, in many schools, all across the country.

And it is absolutely indecent.

And I know it's indecent. But why do I get in trouble, for exposing this indecency? And the way to expose it, is to make people understand, by hearing it, how unbelievably indecent it is.

BRENDAN: Yeah. Look, I think we've gone a long way recently in trying to address this issue by doing what you're doing. We've had instances where parents have tried to read books from their -- again, kindergarten Anna library. At school board meetings and city council meetings. And they have been shut down and said, we can't allow that content to be spoken at these city council meetings. Yet, there it is in the kid's classroom. And so I do think there's some progress in that.

You know, from my perspective, I remember growing up in high school. The famous Eminem song. "The FCC won't let me be." It's quite ironic after humming that song in high school, that I've ended up at the FCC. And, look, we try to be very pro-free speech about this stuff, but this is an issue that we're dealing with as a cultural matter right now.

GLENN: And I would not have a problem if it were me, possibly losing my license. But I -- I lose the license -- anything I do, could possibly jeopardize the license of every license in my chain. So there's no way. There's no way, I'm going to put people out of work to prove this.

BRENDAN: Right. Right.

GLENN: What do you recommend?

BRENDAN: Well, look, again, there's a newsworthy exception to discussing some of this stuff.

You know look, if you think it's -- it could be good or bad. I don't know. But if it's close to the line. There still are background indecency. Profanity rules to the FCC.

We do get complaints from time to time. We usually dismiss them or don't address them. And anything you do, potentially subject yourself, FCC scrutiny in those cases.

GLENN: My problem is, I had some of the best attorneys in Washington. On free speech and FCC. I always had -- for about 25 years. About three years ago, they called, they also represent Google and Apple. And Facebook.

And they dropped me, in the middle of a case. As a client. Because it made their other clients uncomfortable. And they had to make a choice.

So I'm not sure if you will see me and my attorney at some point.

Because I -- you know hard to get one. If you have to have my opinion today.

Brendan thank you so much.

I appreciate all you do at the FCC. God bless.

BRENDAN: Appreciate it, thank you.

GLENN: You bet. Brendan Carr, FCC commissioner.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Are Epstein's "Blackmail Videos" Being Used for Leverage RIGHT NOW?

What was Jeffrey Epstein's operation all about. If he was at the center of a massive blackmail operation to compromise those in positions of power, who is in possession of that information now? Glenn Beck and ATF Whistleblower John Dodson analyze the details of this situation and give their thoughts on what is the most likely reality surrounding Epstein.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with ATF Whistleblower John Dodson HERE

WARNING: How America Elects a Socialist President in 2028 | Glenn TV | Ep 444

The rise of Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old socialist who just won the Democratic primary for mayor, is not just a political earthquake shaking New York City — it’s a warning for the rest of America. Backed by Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani promises free everything, to tax the rich, and to dismantle capitalism. There’s nothing new about this tired strategy, but the media is propping him up as a new political genius. And with Democrat leaders lining up behind him, it’s clear: This radicalism isn’t fringe anymore. It’s the Democratic Party’s future. Mamdani’s rise is part of a larger movement that’s rewriting America’s values. Glenn Beck explains how New York is the prototype for the Left’s socialist makeover of America. Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Standford, gives a terrifying prediction on Mamdani’s mayoral race chances and warns the revolution is coming for mainstream Democrats. He also dives into MAGA’s frustration with the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files.

INSIDE Trump’s soul: How a bullet changed his heart forever

“I have a new purpose,” then-candidate Donald Trump told reporter Salena Zito after surviving the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Salena joins Glenn Beck to reveal what Trump told her about God, his purpose in life, and why he really said, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”, as she details in her new book, “Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland”.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Salena, congratulations on your book. It is so good.

Just started reading it. Or listening to it, last night.

And I wish you would have -- I wish you would have read it. But, you know, the lady you have reading it is really good.

I just enjoy the way you tell stories.

The writing of this is the best explanation on who Trump supporters are. That I think I've ever read, from anybody.

It's really good.

And the description of your experience there at the edge of the stage with Donald Trump is pretty remarkable as well. Welcome to the program.

SALENA: Thank you, Glenn. Thank you so much for having me.

You know, I was thinking about this, as I was ready to come on. You and I have been along for this ride forever. For what?

Since 2006? 2005?

Like 20 years, right?

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

SALENA: And I've been chronicling the American people for probably ten more years, before that. And it's really remarkable to me, as watching how this coalition has grown. Right?

And watching how people have the -- have become more aspirational.

And that's -- and that is what the conservative populist coalition is, right?

It is the aspirations of many, but the celebration of the individual.

And chronicling them, yeah. Has been -- has been, a great honor.

GLENN: You know, I was thinking about this yesterday, when -- when Elon Musk said he was starting another party.

And somebody asked me, well, isn't he doing what the Tea Party tried to do?

No. The Tea Party was not going to start a new party.

It was to -- you know, it was to coerce and convince the Republican Party to do the right thing. And it worked in many ways. It didn't accomplish what we hoped.

But it did accomplish a lot of things.

Donald Trump is a result of the Tea Party.

I truly believe that. And a lot of the people that were -- right?

Were with Donald Trump, are the people that were with the Tea Party.

SALENA: That's absolutely right.

So that was the inception.

So American politics has always had movements, that have been just outside of a party. Or within a party.

That galvanize and broaden the coalition. Right? They don't take away. Or walk away, and become another party.

If anything, if there is a third party out there, it's almost a Republican Party.

Because it has changed in so many viable and meaningful ways. And the Tea Party didn't go away. It strengthened and broadened the Republican Party. Because these weren't just Republicans that became part of this party.

It was independents. It was Democrats.

And just unhappy with the establishment Republicans. And unhappy with Democrats.

And that -- that movement is what we -- what I see today.

What I see every day. What I saw that day, in butler, when I showed I happen at that rally.

As I do, so many rallies, you know, throughout my career. And that one was riveting and changed everything.

GLENN: You made a great case in the opening chapter. You talk about how things were going for Donald Trump.

And how this moment really did change everything for Donald Trump.

Changed the trajectory, changed the mood.

I mean, Elon Musk was not on the Trump train, until this.

SALENA: Yeah.

GLENN: Moment. What do I -- what changed? How -- how did that work?

And -- and I contend, that we would have much more profound change, had the media actually done their job and reported this the way it really was. Pragmatism

SALENA: You know, and people will find this in the book. I'm laying on the ground with an agent on top of me.

I'm 4 feet away from the president.

And there's -- there's notices coming up on my phone. Saying, he was hit by broken glass.

And to this take, that remains part of this sibling culture, in American politics.

Because reporters were -- were so anxious to -- to right what they believed happened.

As opposed to what happened.

And it's been a continual frustration of mine, as a reporter, who is on the ground, all the time.

And I'll tell you, what changed in that moment.

And I say a nuance, and I believe nuance is dead in American journalism.

But it was a nuance and it was a powerful conversation, that I had with President Trump, the next day. He called me the next morning.

But it's a powerful conversation I had with him, just two weeks ago.

When he made this decision to say, fight, fight, fight.

People have put in their heads, why they think he said it. But he told me why he said that. And he said, Salena, in that moment, I was not Donald Trump the man. I was a former president. I was quite possibly going to be president again.

And I had an obligation to the country, and to the office that I have served in, to project strength. To project resolve.

To project that we will not be defeated.

And it's sort of like a symbolic eagle, that is always -- you know, that symbol that we look at, when we think about our country.

He said, that's why I said that. I didn't want the people behind me panicking. I didn't want the people watching, panicking.

I had to show strength. And it's that nuance -- that I think people really picked up on.

And galvanized people.

GLENN: So he told me, when he was laying down on the stage.

And you can hear him. Let me get up. Let me get up.

I've got to get up.

He told me, as I was laying on the stage. I asked him, what were you thinking? What was going through your head? Now, Salena, I don't know about you.

But with me. It would be like, how do I get off the stage? My first was survival.

He said, what was going on through his mind was, you're not pathetic. This is pathetic.

You're not afraid. Get up.

Get up.

And so is that what informed his fight, fight, fight, of that by the time that he's standing up, he's thinking, I'm a symbol? Or do you think he was thinking, I'm a symbol, this looks pathetic. It makes you look weak.

Stand up. How do you think that actually happened?

SALENA: He thinks, and we just talked about this weeks ago. He -- you know, and this is something that he's really thought about.

Right? You know, he's gone over and over and over. And also, purpose and God. Right? These are things that have lingered with him.

You know, he -- he thought, yes.

He did think, it was pathetic that he was on the ground. But he wasn't thinking about, I'm Donald Trump. It's pathetic.

He's thinking, my country is symbolically on the ground. I need to get up, and I need to show that my country is strong.

That our country is resolute.

And I need people to see that.

We can't go on looking like pathetic.

Right?

And I think that then goes to that image of Biden.

GLENN: You have been with so many presidents.

How many presidents do you think that you've personally been with, would have thought that and reacted that way?

SALENA: Probably only Reagan. Reagan would have. Reagan probably would have thought that.

And if you remember how he was out like standing outside.

You know, waving out the window. Right?

After he was shot.

GLENN: At the hospital, right.

SALENA: Had he not been knocked out, unconscious, you know, he probably would have done the same thing.

Because he was someone who deeply believed in American exceptionalism.

And American exceptionalism does not go lay on the ground.

GLENN: And the symbol.

Right. The symbol of the presidency.

SALENA: Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that affects him today.

GLENN: So let me go back to God.

Because you talked to him the next day. And your book Butler.

He calls you up.

I love the fact that your parents would be ashamed of you. On what you said to him.

The language you used. That you just have to read the book.

It's just a great part.

But he calls you the next morning. And wants to know if you're okay.

And you -- you then start talking to him, about God.

And I was -- I was thinking about this, as I was listening to it. You know, Lincoln said, I wasn't -- I wasn't a Christian.

Even though, he was.

I wasn't a Christian, when I was elected. I wasn't a Christian when my son died.

I became a Christian at Gettysburg.

Is -- is -- I mean, I believe Donald Trump always believes in God, et cetera, et cetera.

Do you think there was a real profound change at Butler with him?

SALENA: Absolutely. You know, he called me seven times that day. Seven times, the take after seven.

GLENN: Crazy.

SALENA: Talked about. And I think he was looking for someone that he knew, that was there. And to try to sort it out.

Right? And I let him do most of the talking. I didn't pressure him.

At all. I believed that he was having -- you know, he was struggling. And he needed to just talk. And I believed my purpose was to listen.

Right? I know other reporters would have handled it differently. And that's okay. That's not the kind of reporter that I am.

And I myself was having my own like, why didn't I die?

Right?

Because it went right over my head.

And -- and so I -- he had the conversation about God.

He's funny. I thought it was the biggest mosquito in the world that hit me.

But he had talked profoundly about purpose. You know, and God.

And how God was in that moment.

It --

GLENN: I love the way you -- in the book, I love the way you said that as he's kind of working it out in his own he head.

He was like, you know, I -- I -- I always knew that there was some sort of, you know -- that God was present.

He said, but now that this has happened.

I look back at all of the trials.

All of the tribulations. Literally, the trials.

All of the things that have happened. And he's like, I realized God was there the whole time.

SALENA: Yes. He does. And it's fascinating to have been that witness to history, to have those conversations with him. Because I'm telling you. And y'all know, I can talk. I didn't say much of anything.

I just -- I just listened. I felt that was my purpose, in that moment.

To give him that space, to work it out.

I'm someone that is, you know, believes in God.

I'm Catholic. I followed my faith.

And -- and so, I thought, well, this is why God put me here. Right?

And to -- to have that -- to hear him talk about purpose, to hear him say, Salena. Why did I put a chart down?

I'm like, sir. I don't know. I thought you were Ross Perot for a second.

He never has a chart. And he laughed. And then he said, why did I put that chart down?

By that term, I never turned my head away from people at the rally. That's true.

That relationship is very transactional. It's very -- they feed off of each other.

It's a very emotive moment when you attend a rally. Because he has a way of talking at a rally. That you believe that you are seeing.

And he said, and I never turn my head away.

I never turn my head away.

Why did I turn my head away?

I don't remember consciously thinking about turning my head away. And then he says to me, that was God, wasn't it?

Yes, sir. It was. It was God.

And he said, that's -- that's why I have a new purpose.

And so, Glenn. I think it's important, when you look at the breadth of what has happened, since he was sworn in.

You see that purpose, every day.

He doesn't let up.

He continues going.

And it brings back to the beginning of the book.

Where you find out, that there was another president that was shot at in Butler.

And that was George Washington. And how different the country would have been, had he died in that moment.

And now think about how different the country would be, had President Trump died in that moment. There would be --

GLENN: We're talking to -- we're talking to Salena Zito. About her new book called Butler. The assassination attempt on President Trump. And it is riveting.

And, you know, it is so good. I wish the press would read it. Because it really explains who we are, who Trump supporters are. Who are, you know, red staters. It is so good at that. She's the best at that.