![]() The CIA concluded that Chinese intelligence authorities could potentially intercept TikTok data, according to a 2020 New York Times report, but that there was no evidence they had done so. According to TikTok's letter, the company is already taking steps to mitigate US government concerns. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a group of government agencies that vets foreign purchases of American companies, is reviewing these concerns. The Biden administration has been looking into security concerns related to TikTok. The app is banned on many US government-issued devices and among the military. In 2020, the app caught the attention of the Trump administration, which ordered ByteDance to divest TikTok though that sale hasn't actually happened. What has the US government done to address concerns? TikTok has repeatedly said it would never do this. Another worry is the data could be used in aggregate to attack the US, such as using data to craft misinformation campaigns that could be used to destabilize the US government. In theory, China could use the data to build profiles and spy on individual users, monitor their activity and target them directly. ![]() That data, they worry, could be weaponized against Americans. Some US officials are concerned TikTok threatens national security because parent company ByteDance could share data about Americans collected through the app with the Chinese government. ![]() Here are some of the key issues TikTok raises in the US: What are the concerns about the TikTok app? The recent concerns mark the latest round of turbulence for TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance. The letters were prompted by a BuzzFeed News report in mid-June that China-based employees of TikTok's parent company "have repeatedly accessed nonpublic data about US TikTok users." The report cited leaked audio of internal company meetings, during which engineers in China discussed that they reportedly had access to US data between September 2021 and January 2022. Apple didn't respond to a request for comment. "It is not just an app for sharing funny videos or memes," read Carr's letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. His reason: The app collects data from users that poses risk to America's national security. user data," Chew said in the letter.Įarlier this week, Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr, a Republican appointed during former President Donald Trump's administration, revealed that he had asked Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores. "We know we are among the most scrutinized platforms from a security standpoint, and we aim to remove any doubt about the security of U.S. However, TikTok said that as it continues to work on data issues, it expects "to delete US users protected data from our own systems and fully pivot to Oracle cloud servers located in the U.S." The eight-page letter, which was seen and reported by The New York Times, acknowledged that China-based employees "can have access to TikTok US user data subject to a series of robust cybersecurity controls and authorization approval protocols overseen by our US-based security team." ![]() In a response to the senators, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew laid out details about how the company is working with the Biden administration on an agreement that would "fully safeguard user data and US national security interests." The letter expresses concern over a report that the company gives officials in Beijing "backdoor access" to data on its users. On Friday, the company responded to a letter signed by nine Republican US senators, including Roy Blunt of Missouri and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. Popular video app TikTok is once again in the crosshairs of the US government, as a high-ranking regulator and a group of lawmakers re-surface national security concerns that the China-based service may pose.
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