FBI Director Chris Wray has expressed national security concerns about TikTok, warning that control of the popular social network rests with a Chinese government that does not share the same values as the United States.
Chris Wray stressed that the US Federal Police are concerned that the Chinese have the ability to control the app’s recommendation algorithm, which allows them to “manipulate content, use it, if they want to, to influence operations.”
The FBI official also noted that China could use the social video-sharing network to collect data from its users, which could be used for espionage.
Ray stressed during a press conference that “all this is in the hands of a government that does not share our values and has a mission that is contrary to what is in the interest of the United States. And this should concern us.” Hearing at the Gerald Ford School of Public Policy of the University of Michigan.
These concerns are similar to those raised by the FBI director during his appearance before the US Congress in November when the case was brought.
TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance. The Associated Press (AP) reported that a spokesperson for this social network did not immediately respond to these statements.
In September, during a Senate hearing, TikTok’s chief operating officer, Vanessa Pappas, confirmed that the company protects all data from US users and that authorities associated with the Chinese government do not have access to this data.
Pappas stressed that “we will never share data.”
Concerned about China’s influence on TikTok, Donald Trump’s government in 2020 threatened to ban the app in the US and pressured ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American company.
US officials and the company are now in talks about a potential deal that would address Americans’ security concerns, a process Wray said is taking place in US government agencies, led by Joe Biden.
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