Does TikTok, the video-sharing app popular among teens, represent a national security threat?
Two US senators are worried it does because a Chinese company, the Beijing-based ByteDance, runs the app. Their main concern: That the Chinese government can secretly compel TikTok to censor content and spy on users. The same platform is also ripe to spread misinformation to influence a US election, they say.
"With over 110 million downloads in the US alone, TikTok is a potential counterintelligence threat we cannot ignore," Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Chuck Schumer (D-New York) wrote in a Wednesday letter to the US Acting Director of National Intelligence, which was first reported by The Washington Post.
The senators sent the letter amid suspicions that TikTok has been censoring videos for political reasons. Last month, The Post reported that user videos of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong were mysteriously absent from the video-sharing app. The UK newspaper, the Guardian, later obtained internal documents on TikTok's content moderation guidelines that show the platform used to ban videos on "controversial" political topics, including independence movements regarding Tibet, Taiwan and North Ireland.
ByteDance has defended its practices, saying TikTok's past content moderation practices were focused on minimizing conflict in favor for videos meant to entertain users. However, Cotton and Schumer are questioning whether the company can truly be free of the Chinese government's influence.
"It's required to adhere to Chinese law," Schumer said of ByteDance in a tweet on Thursday. "That means it can be compelled to cooperate with intelligence work controlled by China's Communist party."
TikTok's been downloaded OVER 110M TIMES in the US
It's owned by a Beijing-based tech company
It's required to adhere to Chinese law
That means it can be compelled to cooperate with intelligence work controlled by China's Communist Partyhttps://t.co/qB04rAVeY3 — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) October 24, 2019
Earlier this month, US Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) also raised concerns about TikTok censoring users. However, ByteDance is pushing back on the fears raised by the US lawmakers. On Thursday, TikTok said it was committed to "transparency and accountability" in how the app works for users in the US.
"First, let's talk about data privacy and security. We store all TikTok US user data in the United States, with backup redundancy in Singapore. Our data centers are located entirely outside of China, and none of our data is subject to Chinese law," the company said in a statement. (A security researcher, however, has noticed TikTok's server infrastructure appears to be supplied by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.)
TikTok went on to address the concerns about Chinese-imposed censorship affecting what US users post over the app. "Let us be very clear: TikTok does not remove content based on sensitivities related to China," the company said. "We have never been asked by the Chinese government to remove any content and we would not do so if asked."
Back in 2016, ByteDance first launched a Chinese version of its video-sharing app under the name Douyin. The year after, it then launched a separate, international version called TikTok, which later absorbed rival video-sharing app Musical.ly, to help it expand into the US market. Senator Rubio, however, is now calling on a US regulator to review the merger.
Although its parent company is based in Beijing, TikTok says its content moderation team for the US market is actually located in California. "We are not influenced by any foreign government, including the Chinese government; TikTok does not operate in China, nor do we have any intention of doing so in the future," the app said in today's statement.
The scrutiny of TikTok arrives as US lawmakers are also concerned US companies are siding with the Chinese government on censoring content that opposes China's ruling party. Last Friday, a bipartisan group of Senate and House members condemned gaming firm Blizzard and Apple for allegedly suppressing mention of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong over their platforms.
Wednesday's letter from Cotton and Schumer largely focuses on TikTok. But the senators are also asking the US intelligence community to examine the national security risks of other Chinese-owned content platforms operating in the US.