WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Chris Ray raises national TikTok security concerns, warning Friday that controls of popular video sharing app in arms of Chinese government “is not share Our values.”
Ray said the FBI concerned what did the Chinese have ability manage the application’s recommendation algorithm, “which allows them to manipulate the content and if they want to, to use it for influence operations. He also argued that China use data collection application on its users who could be used for traditional espionage operations.
“All of these things in arms of a government is not share our values and it has mission this is very contradictory with what in in best interests of United States. What should anxiety us’ Ray told the audience at the university. of Gerald R. Ford School in Michigan of Public Policy.
These concerns are similar to those he expressed during speeches in Congress. last month when issue came up. And they are voiced during the ongoing dialogue in Washington about the application.
Worried about China’s influence over TikTok, Trump administration in 2020 threatened to ban the app in the US and forced ByteDance to sell TikTok to a US company. US officials and company currently in negotiation over a possible an agreement that would resolve American security concerns, a process that, according to Ray, place for the USA government agencies.
“As Director Ray said earlier, the FBI’s contribution is seen as part of of our ongoing negotiations with to the US government,” TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said in a statement. in application by email. “Until we can comment on peculiarities of these confidential discussions, we are confident that we on a path fully satisfy all reasonable USA national safety concerns and already made significant progress in the implementation of these decisions.
TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance. Friday’s TikTok statement notes that ByteDance is private company and that “TikTok Inc., which offers the TikTok service in United States, is a US company bound by the laws of the United States.”
At a Senate hearing in September, TikTok COO Vanessa Pappas answered questions from members of both sides, stating that the company protects all data from US users and that Chinese government officials do not access to that.
“We will never share data, period,” Pappas said.
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