FBI raises nat’l security concerns about TikTok
WASHINGTON: FBI Director Chris Wray is raising national security concerns about TikTok, warning Friday that control of the popular video sharing app is in the hands of a Chinese government “that doesn’t share our values.”
Wray said the FBI was concerned that the Chinese had the ability to control the app’s recommendation algorithm, “which allows them to manipulate content, and if they want to, to use it for influence operations.” He also asserted that China could use the app to collect data on its users that could be used for traditional espionage ops.
“All of these are in the hands of a government that doesn’t share our values, and that has a mission that’s very much at odds with what’s in the best interests of the United States. That should concern us,” Wray told an audience at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R Ford School of Public Policy.
Those concerns are similar to ones he raised during congressional appearances last month when the issue came up. And they’re being voiced during ongoing dialogue in Washington about the app. Concerned about China’s influence over TikTok, the Trump administration in 2020 threatened to ban the app within the US and pressured ByteDance to sell TikTok to a US company. US officials and the company are now in talks over a possible agreement that would resolve American security concerns, a process that Wray said was taking place across US govt agencies.
“As Director Wray has previously said, FBI’s input is being considered part of our ongoing negotiations with US Govt,” TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said.
“While we can’t comment on the specifics of those confidential discussions, we are confident we are on a path to fully satisfy all reasonable US national security concerns.”
TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance. The TikTok statement noted that ByteDance is a private company and that “TikTok Inc., which offers the TikTok service in the US, is a US company bound by US laws.”