In early November, TikTok acknowledged that employees in China could access user data. Since then, members of the US Congress have been skeptical about the platform’s ability to protect the information of Western users. This November 15, the director of the FBI shared his concern about TikTok’s activities in the United States in terms of national security.
“Extremely worried”. So said Christopher Wray, director of the FBI in the House of Representatives during a hearing on global threats. He points to the possibility that the Chinese government could use TikTok “to control the collection of data from millions of users.” He also argues that China could control the recommendation algorithm for influence operations and even “control the software of millions of devices.”
Open access for Chinese authorities
These accusations add to several episodes of suspicion about the Chinese government and the TikTok tool. The media Forbes in particular, it reported that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, planned to use the app to monitor the location data of certain US citizens.
If TikTok has admitted to accessing the data of Western (including French) users from China, the company ensures that this is not stored on servers based in China. An access that, however, is cause for concern, since the company promised to work in the interests of the Chinese Communist Party and offer access to all the information collected to local authorities.
However, the US administration does not rule out finding agreements with the platform. Meetings between TikTok and the US authorities are currently ongoing. According to New York TimesThe US government is said to be close to reaching an agreement with the company to allow it to continue operating in the United States with tighter security measures.
Source: BFM TV
