The cast of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show reacted to the overwhelmingly bipartisan vote in the House on Wednesday that would force ByteDance to divest from TikTok by accusing those in favor of hypocrisy and jealousy in a heavily sarcastic satirical news report.
Temporary co-host Michael Kosta introduced correspondent Ronny Chieng and asked him, “What's the feeling up on Capitol Hill?”
Chieng claimed that Congress is simply jealous:
I'll tell you what the feeling should be. America should be feeling humiliated right now. China made an app so popular that the government has to ban it. That means Communist China beat Free Market America at capitalism! That's like your whole thing, America! And you lost! This is as bad as that time that Asian dude won the hot dog eating contest six times in a row! China beat us so bad at mindless entertainment, we need the government to save us? ‘Oh, no, TikTok is too popular! Now we're addicted to our phones that are also made in China!’
China is so good at capitalism that it bans American social media apps and doesn’t even allow unfettered access to TikTok, but fellow temp host Desi Lydic still wondered, “What choice do our leaders have here? China is using TikTok to influence people!”
Chieng claimed to understand, “Oh, trust me, I know! Before I used TikTok, I was a white guy in Iowa named Mike Sullivan. Look at me now!”
After Lydic and Kosta pretended to take that claim seriously and asked if it was true, Chieng continued, “No. No, you idiots! That's just how susceptible we all are to misinformation! And it doesn't matter what app you use! Okay, I wouldn't be surprised if the next election is swung by Uber Eats, like, ‘Here's your spaghetti—vote for Donald Trump!’ ‘Oh, okay! I will! Whatever you say, Mr. Spaghetti. Ugh.’”
Lydic followed up, “Ronny, you're not being fair. Americans aren't gullible. It's that TikTok is an incredibly powerful tool for spreading misinformation.”
Thus far, the entire point of the segment has been that TikTok is being unfairly blamed for technology addictions and misinformation, but Chieng then undermined the entire point by demonstrating that not all misinformation is created equal, “Yeah, because their misinformation is entertaining! Facebook has just as much misinformation, but it's boring as shit! How am I supposed to get behind conspiracies that come from your great aunt who can't even pop and lock! Misinformation—TikTok misinformation is exciting: cool dances, cute baby animals, Tiananmen Square didn't happen. We're all having fun!”
Kosta then wondered, “So what, America is supposed to just roll over and let TikTok do whatever it wants?”
Chieng affirmed that this is exactly what America should do, “Just make a better app to package American misinformation worldwide! Because American misinformation is the best in the world, okay? We got people to storm the Capitol dressed as a buffalo! Yo, Gwyneth Paltrow told me to put an egg in my vagina! American misinformation is straight up turning people into omelets! That's how powerful it is! And you know what, we can win this war of misinformation, America! Or my name isn't Mike Sullivan!”
For one brief moment, Chieng appeared to understand the difference between a hostile foreign government spreading misinformation on a spy app and claims about eggs and genitals from weirdo celebrities. However, he and his colleagues quickly moved on because dwelling on that point would undermine the rest of the segment.
Here is a transcript for the March 13 show:
Comedy Central The Daily Show
3/14/2023
11:08 PM ET
MICHAEL KOSTA: For more on the TikTok ban, we go live to Washington, D.C. with Ronny Chieng. Ronny, what's the feeling up on Capitol Hill?
RONNY CHIENG: I'll tell you what the feeling should be. America should be feeling humiliated right now. China made an app so popular that the government has to ban it. That means Communist China beat Free Market America at capitalism! That's like your whole thing, America! And you lost! This is as bad as that time that Asian dude won the hot dog eating contest six times in a row! China beat us so bad at mindless entertainment, we need the government to save us?
"Oh, no, TikTok is too popular! Now we're addicted to our phones that are also made in China!"
DESI LYDIC: Ronny, hold on a minute. What choice do our leaders have here? China is using TikTok to influence people!
CHIENG: Oh, trust me, I know! Before I used TikTok, I was a white guy in Iowa named Mike Sullivan. Look at me now!
LYDIC: Wait—are you—is that true?
KOSTA: You serious? Is that true?
CHIENG: No. No, you idiots! That's just how susceptible we all are to misinformation! And it doesn't matter what app you use! Okay, I wouldn't be surprised if the next election is swung by Uber Eats, like, "Here's your spaghetti -- vote for Donald Trump!" "Oh, okay! I will! Whatever you say, Mr. Spaghetti. Ugh."
LYDIC: Ronny, you're not being fair. Americans aren't gullible. It's that TikTok is an incredibly powerful tool for spreading misinformation.
CHIENG: Yeah, because their misinformation is entertaining! Facebook has just as much misinformation, but it's boring as shit! How am I supposed to get behind conspiracies that come from your great aunt who can't even pop and lock! Misinformation—TikTok misinformation is exciting: cool dances, cute baby animals, Tiananmen Square didn't happen. We're all having fun!
KOSTA: So what, America is supposed to just roll over and let TikTok do whatever it wants?
CHIENG: Yes! Or America can innovate itself out of this problem. Just make a better app to package American misinformation worldwide! Because American misinformation is the best in the world, okay? We got people to storm the Capitol dressed as a buffalo! Yo, Gwyneth Paltrow told me to put an egg in my vagina! American misinformation is straight up turning people into omelets! That's how powerful it is! And you know what, we can win this war of misinformation, America! Or my name isn't Mike Sullivan!
