U.S. Senators Claim Video-Sharing App 'TikTok' Might Be A Threat To National Security
U.S. Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Senator Tom Cotton have sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, expressing concerns about TikTok, a popular video-sharing app. According to the two senators, the Chinese-owned platform may pose a threat to national security through user data collection, or the censorship of content. Schumer and Cotton also suggested that the video-sharing platform could become targeted by foreign influence campaigns.
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TikTok is owned by Bytedance Inc., a Beijing-based tech company, while concern about Chinese online censorship is becoming a hot topic. Schumer and Cotton wrote in their letter: "With over 110 million downloads in the U.S. alone, TikTok is a potential counterintelligence threat we cannot ignore." Republican Senator Marco Rubio has also asked U.S. authorities to review claims that the Chinese state might be using TikTok for political censorship.
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The senators also expressed concern about a situation in which the Chinese government may force TikTok to turn over data for its U.S. users, including "user content and communications, IP address, location-related data, device identifiers, cookies, metadata, and other sensitive personal information." They elaborated: "Without an independent judiciary to review requests made by the Chinese government for data or other actions; there is no legal mechanism for Chinese companies to appeal if they disagree with a request.
" ByteDance has already answered some of the concerns, saying that the TikTok app doesn't operate in China, and the Chinese government wouldn't have jurisdiction. A spokeswoman for the company told Reuters: "TikTok is committed to being a trusted and responsible corporate citizen in the U.S., which includes working with Congress and all relevant regulatory agencies.
" The TikTok app is not available on the Chinese app store, and the website TikTok.com is also blocked. The company has added that: "TikTok does not operate in China, nor do we have any intention of doing so in the future.
" Still, concerns about foreign influence in the upcoming election have stayed relatively high, despite the trouble Democrats have had in their attempts to prove a Russian cyber-influence campaign helped elect President Donald Trump in the 2016 elections, a claim that has been denied by both Moscow and the Trump administration.
