TikTok Facing Possibility Of “Strict Structural Restrictions”
National Security Risks at stake.
While in Europe, the European Commission forbids its employers the use of TikTok app; for the same security reason, in the U.S., The Committee on Foreign Investment is facing escalating bipartisan pressure to separate the popular Chinese-owned video app from its parent company. Two senators urged The Committee to “swiftly conclude its investigation and impose strict structural restrictions between TikTok’s American operations and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, including potentially separating the companies.”
The letter from the lawmakers — Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., chair of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on privacy, and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., a member of the Senate Committee on Intelligence — points to the possibility of China to “collect data on tens of millions of American users and attempt to influence our public discourse.”
In December, President Joe Biden signed a bill prohibiting the use of the popular video app by nearly four million government employees on devices owned by its agencies. At least 27 state governments have passed similar measures.
The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment reviews business dealings that may threaten national security and it can force ByteDance to sell TikTok to a U.S. company.
The concern revolves around the Chinese government’s leverage data collected by TikTok, which has over 100 million active users, to advance its interests, for example, forcing the app to tweak its algorithm to boost content that undermines U.S. democratic institutions or silences criticism of China. “TikTok and ByteDance cannot be trusted by CFIUS or its tens of millions of users in the United States,” the lawmakers write. “TikTok is clearly, inextricably dependent on ByteDance for its operations, and therefore beholden to the government of China.”
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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National Security Risks at stake.
While in Europe, the European Commission forbids its employers the use of TikTok app; for the same security reason, in the U.S., The Committee on Foreign Investment is facing escalating bipartisan pressure to separate the popular Chinese-owned video app from its parent company. Two senators urged The Committee to “swiftly conclude its investigation and impose strict structural restrictions between TikTok’s American operations and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, including potentially separating the companies.”
The letter from the lawmakers — Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., chair of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on privacy, and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., a member of the Senate Committee on Intelligence — points to the possibility of China to “collect data on tens of millions of American users and attempt to influence our public discourse.”
In December, President Joe Biden signed a bill prohibiting the use of the popular video app by nearly four million government employees on devices owned by its agencies. At least 27 state governments have passed similar measures.
The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment reviews business dealings that may threaten national security and it can force ByteDance to sell TikTok to a U.S. company.
The concern revolves around the Chinese government’s leverage data collected by TikTok, which has over 100 million active users, to advance its interests, for example, forcing the app to tweak its algorithm to boost content that undermines U.S. democratic institutions or silences criticism of China. “TikTok and ByteDance cannot be trusted by CFIUS or its tens of millions of users in the United States,” the lawmakers write. “TikTok is clearly, inextricably dependent on ByteDance for its operations, and therefore beholden to the government of China.”
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
