TikTok is a Potential Counter Intelligence Threat, US Senators Demand Probe

TikTok app has become a serious security threat for the United States as two US senators have recently asked the government to verify the risk of national security that is posed by Chinese owned video app TikTok, saying the app could make American users vulnerable to the Chinese spying.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer have asked the Directorate of National Intelligence to conduct a thorough assessment of the national security risks that are posed by TikTok.

They said, “With over 110 million downloads in the US alone, TikTok is a potential counterintelligence threat we cannot ignore”. Schumer and Cotton also alerted that TikTok’s owner Byte Dance could be forced to share the user information with Chinese intelligence.

The company willingly could also offer Chinese spies a backdoor to users' smartphones and computers, similar to the allegations they made against Chinese telecoms giant Huawei. As Schumer and Cotton both argued that the “Chinese laws could compel the company to support and cooperate with intelligence work controlled by the Chinese Communist Party”.

They also noted that the video app easily collects substantial personal data from the users, which is a security risk.

With over 500 million users across the world, in the past two years, TikTok has exploded to popularity, offering the platform to produce and publish music-synced videos up to 60 seconds long.

The senators also alerted that the app could be potentially used to influence voters in the election that is scheduled next year, in the same way Russians have manipulated the US social media in the 2016 campaign.

Schumer and Cotton said, “Questions have also been raised regarding the potential for censorship or manipulation of certain content”.

They also added, “TikTok reportedly censors materials deemed politically sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party, including content related to the recent protests in Hong Kong with references to Tiananmen Square, the independence of Tibet and Taiwan, and the treatment of Chinese government towards Uighurs”.

The Senators also pointed out that the application is not operational in China, where ByteDance offers a similar but separate DouYin app, and that TikTok’s user data is stored inside the United States. However, they said, “Byte Dance is bound to adhere to the laws of China”.

TikTok is available on both Android and iOS platforms and is used for creating and sharing short 60 seconds lip-sync, comedy videos. The app was launched by Byte Dance for markets outside of China in the year 2017. Previously the company has launched a similar app DouYin only for the Chinese market in September 2016. TikTok and Douyin are the same, but run on different servers in order to comply with the Chinese censorship restrictions. The application is very popular in Asia, the United States, and other parts of the world. 

In the year 2018, the application gained popularity and became the most downloaded app in the US by October 2018, thereby becoming the first Chinese application to do so in the US. Till now it is available in over 150 markets and in 75 languages. In February this year TikTok along with DouYin, hit one billion downloads globally.