A Chinese government public relations agency asked TikTok to set up an account that would target Westerners and improve China’s image but wasn’t overtly linked to the government, according to Bloomberg and based on an internal message provided to them.
In an email received in April 2020 by Elizabeth Kanter, the head of TikTok’s government relations department for the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Israel, a colleague remarked: “Chinese government entity that’s interested in joining TikTok but would not want to be openly seen as a government account as the main purpose is for promoting content that showcases the best side of China (some sort of propaganda).”
