For example, several Democrats have joined Republicans in saying Trump “was correct” to try to ban TikTok until it was sold to a U.S. company because of privacy and data sharing issues (as Leah reported here).
Republican senators have alleged that the business has misled them about the frequency and purpose of its data sharing with the Chinese government.
James Comer (R-KY), who would lead the House Oversight and Reform Committee if Republicans take control of the House in January, has called for an investigation into President Biden and his family’s foreign companies after publicly criticizing TikTok’s CEO.
The Committee asked for “documents and information on TikTok’s organizational structure and its data sharing and privacy procedures connected to China,” according to Comer’s timeline, which was posted on July 14. TikTok replied on July 28 after receiving the Committee’s request, and on September 7 it “gave a nonpartisan briefing.”
Republicans like Comer and his colleagues in the legislature contend that the Committee has “unanswered concerns” since TikTok “failed to provide response materials sought by the committee.”
For example, TikTok’s assertion that it does not track its American users’ whereabouts must be verified during the staff briefing.
If it came out that TikTok personnel had lied to or misled Congress during a briefing, that would be “extremely troubling,” in Comer’s opinion. According to a new study from Consumer Reports and Forbes, claims made by TikTok concerning who in China has access to user data and whether or not the firm tracks user whereabouts or observes activities even when the user is not using the app are false.
Comer summarized the attention the media’s uproar against TikTok’s policing practices received.
Consumer Reports claims that when the popular video-sharing software TikTok is installed on a user’s device, it puts web-based “pixels” that track and gather data about the user.
Data from sites with “.org,” “.edu,” and “.gov” extensions yield seven distinct bits of information. 8 To put it another way, even American internet users who don’t use the app are giving TikTok access to some of their most sensitive information.
The Chinese company ByteDance, according to Forbes, has employees who plan to utilize TikTok to track the whereabouts of individual Americans.
The publication (which provides no sources) doesn’t say whether or not any renowned Americans would be subject to surveillance. 10 It is still being determined if this program also monitored CCP dissidents living in the United States. TikTok’s data administrators claim they cannot be sure that no private user data is being stored on servers in [China]. 11 If accurate, reports that TikTok misled both Democrats and Republicans on the Committee during an earlier hearing raise serious concerns.
More work is needed to realize its full potential. Moreover, if it were proven that TikTok lied to Congress about these characteristics of their program, things would become much less sticky. If the rumor that TikTok had made a deal with the Biden administration to let it continue operating in the United States with little changes to its functioning were accurate, then the company would have been justified in anticipating minimal pushback from Washington.
Concerned that TikTok “may be close to a deal to allow TikTok to stay operational in the U.S. without making fundamental modifications to its corporate structure,” Comer wrote an open letter to the company expressing his worries. “New York Times stories claiming TikTok and the Biden Administration may be close to a deal,” he said, as evidence. Comer warns that any agreement reached between the Biden administration and TikTok could be rejected and vetoed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It’s concerning that the Administration will work with any private company, regardless of whether or not they have CCP clearance. We have a ways to go still.
A year of negotiations resulted in “agreements on the framework of a deal that includes adjustments to TikTok’s data security and governance,” and the White House caved, allowing China’s ByteDance to retain ownership of TikTok.
By signing a contract with a corporation owned by the Chinese Communist Party, Biden is letting China run roughshod over his Administration once again. Before severing ties with Chinese communists, the company allegedly lied to lawmakers to secure a deal to continue operations in the United States.