The FBI is concerned that the Chinese government could use TikTok to influence American users or control their devices. An agreement on security is being negotiated between the company and the U.S. government.
Last week, Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Mike Gallagher — both Republicans — introduced legislation
would ban TikTok"and other social media companies that are effectively controlled by the CCP from operating in the United States."For one, the lawmakers said the app can track users' locations and collect internet browsing data even from unrelated websites — adding that Beijing could develop profiles on millions of Americans for blackmail or espionage purposes, as well as collect sensitive national security information from U.S. government employees.
They also worried about potential abuses of TikTok's algorithm, and specifically that it could"be used to subtly indoctrinate American citizens" by censoring some videos and promoting others."TikTok has already censored references to politically sensitive topics, including the treatment of workers in Xinjiang, China, and the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square," they wrote.
The lawmakers called this an especially frightening prospect given how many adults get their news from TikTok., a professor of media studies and the director of the East Asia Center at the University of Virginia, describes TikTok as both an entertainment platform and a form of critical communications infrastructure.
And she says it is"part of a larger Chinese government effort to expand extraterritorial control over digital platforms."
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