Democratic senator Michael Bennet raised concern on Thursday about a potential national security threat presented by the TikTok app, which has ties to China. He begged digital behemoths Apple and Google to take down the program from their stores in order to safeguard Americans from any possible damage.
Republican Sen. Michael Bennet and Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois wrote an urgent letter to the Department of Justice on Thursday, taking a strong stance against potential privacy risks and expressing concern over China-based ByteDance’s ownership of the well-known social media platform TikTok. Both legislators are eagerly expecting the DOJ’s reaction to former President Donald Trump’s prediction that a ban may be required for user security grounds this year owing to data worries raised by Beijing-affiliated businesses like ByteDance.
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“Like most social media platforms, TikTok collects vast and sophisticated data from its users, including faceprints and voiceprints,” Bennet wrote. “Unlike most social media platforms, TikTok poses a unique concern because Chinese law obligates ByteDance, its Beijing-based parent company, to ‘support, assist, and cooperate with state intelligence work.’”
“Beijing’s requirement raises the obvious risk that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could weaponize TikTok against the United States, specifically, by forcing ByteDance to surrender Americans’ sensitive data or manipulate the content Americans receive to advance China’s interests,” he wrote.
Tech experts have questioned TikTok’s claim of impregnable data security standards, despite the app’s assurance that it is not controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Evidence to date indicates that these purported measures fall short in preventing CCP access to Americans’ private information.
“Unfortunately, Senator Bennet’s letter relies almost exclusively on misleading reporting about TikTok, the data we collect, and our data security controls,” The Daily Caller News Foundation was informed by a TikTok spokesperson. “It also ignores the considerable investment we have made through Project Texas—a plan negotiated with our country’s top national security experts—to provide additional assurances to our community about their data security and the integrity of the TikTok platform.”
The Republican National Committee encouraged individuals to take action against TikTok last week by calling for a ban on government equipment and deletion from mobile devices. This appeal has already been heard by a number of nations, who now prohibit the use of the contentious software inside their borders.
