TikTok could be a valuable tool for the Chinese government to hold data on millions of people and harness the short-form video app to shape public view should China invade Taiwan, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday.
Wray responded affirmatively to questions from the panel’s ranking member, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida on whether TikTok would let Beijing overall control over data and a helpful power tool in the possibility of war in the Taiwan Strait.
The most fundamental piece that cuts across every one of those risks and threats that you mentioned that I think Americans need to understand is that very sacred in our country the difference between the private sector and public sector that’s a line that is nonexistent in the way that the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) operates.”
Wray told Rubio in the hearing.
Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate panel, claimed that TikTok presents “a significant national security threat for the country of a kind that we didn’t encounter in the past.”
Wray’s comments come a day after Gen. Paul Nakasone, head of the US National Security Agency, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he worried TikTok could censor videos to shape general opinion in a way that threatens US national security interests.
It’s the latest in a full-court press from US officials to sound the alarm about TikTok’s likely security risks as Congress considers offering the Biden administration more control to handle the alleged threat posed by the platform, up to and including banning the app in the United States.
the Chinese government has never asked us for US user data” and the company would not provide it if the government did ask. Chew also said that “misinformation and propaganda have no place on our platform, and our users do not expect that.”
Shou Chew-TikTok CEO
The company has taken voluntary steps to wall off US user data from the rest of its global organization, including by hosting that data on servers operated by the US tech giant Oracle. The company is also dealing with a possible agreement with the Biden administration that could allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States under specific conditions.
In a statement this week, a TikTok spokesperson said a US government ban would stifle American speech and would be “a ban on the export of American culture and values to the billion-plus people who use our service worldwide.”
