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Chinese-Owned TikTok Employees Donated Overwhelmingly to Democrats, Reports Show

ByAlki David

Mar 24, 2023

Media Research Center (MRC) has revealed that Chinese-owned social media giant TikTok has a strong connection to left-leaning candidates and groups. According to MRC Business, 94 percent of the donations made by TikTok employees, totaling $62,088.00, went to left-wing candidates and groups between July 2020 and August 2022. This comes as TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before Congress on Thursday.

ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, has ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with the party holding a financial stake and board seat. Open Secrets records show that 122 donations, totaling over $66,000, were made by TikTok employees. In comparison, only $4,250 in donations were made to Republican politicians by the company’s employees.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) were the biggest recipients of donations from TikTok employees, with President Joe Biden receiving over $2,000 in 2020. Biden had previously rolled back restrictions on TikTok, which were put in place during the Trump administration.

As TikTok continues to grow in popularity, the revelations about employee donations raise questions about the platform’s political affiliations and ties to the Chinese government.

By Alki David

Alki David — Publisher, Media Architect, SIN Network Creator - live, direct-to-public communication, media infrastructure, accountability journalism, and independent distribution. Born in Lagos, Nigeria; educated in the United Kingdom and Switzerland; attended the Royal College of Art. Early internet broadcaster — participated in real-time public coverage during the 1997 Mars landing era using experimental online transmission from Beverly Hills. Founder of FilmOn, one of the earliest global internet television networks offering live and on-demand broadcasting outside legacy gatekeepers. Publisher of SHOCKYA — reporting since 2010 on systemic corruption inside the entertainment business and its expansion into law, finance, and regulation. Creator of the SIN Network (ShockYA Integrated Network), a federated media and civic-information infrastructure spanning investigative journalism, live TV, documentary, and court-record reporting. Lived and worked for over 40 years inside global media hubs including Malibu, Beverly Hills, London, Hong Kong and Gstaad. Early encounter with Julian Assange during the first Hologram USA operations proved a formative turning point — exposing the realities of lawfare, information suppression, and concentrated media power. Principal complainant and driving force behind what court filings describe as the largest consolidated media–legal accountability action on record, now before the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. Relocated to Antigua & Barbuda and entered sustained legal, civic, and informational confrontation over media power, safeguarding, and accountability at Commonwealth scale.