As President Biden prepares to sign into law legislation requiring Bytedance, a Communist Chinese technology company tied to Beijing, to divest from TikTok or cease the social media app’s American operations, the question arises: Who is next? What about China’s other apps and strategic investments in education technology? TikTok’s challenge skims the surface of a sea of concerns, all rooted in Beijing’s aim of a new global order.
Consider other, more insidious Chinese-run apps. Gauth, formerly Gauthmath, is a tutoring app to help with homework. The so-called “AI Study Companion” is the third most popular education app in Apple’s app store, targeting primary and high school students. Initially centered on science and math, it now covers economics, literature, and the social sciences. Students capture images of difficult problems for Gauth to solve.
So what? What’s the harm to a student using an app to solve an integral or parse Mark Twain? There are several. Yet, fundamentally, apps such as Gauth are one tool in China’s wider efforts to subvert and indoctrinate future American and global generations. The apps operate in tandem with other soft power strategies such as student associations, educational exchanges, and financial aid designed to mold educational content.
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