![]() In the meantime, TikTok has only grown in influence and popularity. “ We have made substantial progress on implementing that solution over the past year, and look forward to completing that work to put these concerns to rest,” she said. “We have been working with CFIUS, led by the Treasury Department, for over two years to address all reasonable national security concerns about TikTok in the U.S.,” TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said in a statement to Foreign Policy, adding that CFIUS is reviewing a “comprehensive solution” that covers data security, corporate governance, and content moderation. After Biden took office, he dropped the ban in favor of continuing a national security review of TikTok’s technology by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which is yet to conclude. app stores before he lost his reelection bid in 2020 to President Joe Biden. Then-President Donald Trump went after TikTok aggressively on similar national security grounds, nearly forcing a ban from U.S. teenagers, ahead of Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook. In any event, targets abound: An estimated 100 million Americans, particularly younger Americans, use the app, with a survey earlier this year by Pew Research placing it second in popularity to YouTube among U.S. (TikTok, for its part, has said it does not share data with the Chinese government and would not do so if asked.) While some of the data TikTok collects is no different from other platforms that rely on ad tracking, such as Google and Facebook, TikTok’s ownership heightens the risk that China’s authoritarian government could compel it to share data with Beijing on users from other countries. It also has data on the devices being used to view its videos, with recent research showing it can potentially access details such as location, contacts, and calendars. ![]() TikTok’s algorithm, which serves its users videos better suited to their interests and has driven the app’s popularity, collects data on users’ likes and dislikes based on viewing patterns. Critics of TikTok argue that the app could be used to spy on Americans, influence public opinion, and expose them to Chinese propaganda. The debate centers on TikTok’s ownership by Chinese tech giant ByteDance and the degree to which the government in Beijing has access to and influence over the data it collects on its users. A similar ban for federal government devices is part of the omnibus spending bill that passed Congress on Friday, and bipartisan legislation introduced earlier this month calls for TikTok to be banned in the United States completely.įurther warnings about the app have come from Brendan Carr, a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission, and several members of the intelligence community, including the directors of the FBI and CIA. ![]() states including Georgia, Texas, Maryland, Virginia, and both Dakotas have already banned the popular social media app-best known for short videos and viral dances-from being used on state government devices. The drumbeat against TikTok grows louder by the day.
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