Tik Tok will help China in invading Taiwan-FBI
2023.03.09 03:17
Tik Tok will help China in invading Taiwan-FBI
By Ray Johnson
Budrigannews.com – According to what FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, the Chinese government could use TikTok to control data on millions of people and use the short-form video app to influence public opinion in the event that China invades Taiwan.
Wray said yes to questions from the panel’s top Republican, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, about whether TikTok would give Beijing a lot of control over data and be a useful tool for influence in the event of war in the Taiwan Strait.
Wray told Rubio during the hearing, “The most fundamental piece that cuts across every one of those risks and threats that you mentioned that I think Americans need to understand is that something that is very sacred in our country — the difference between the private sector and public sector — that’s a line that is nonexistent in the way that the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] operates.” This is something that crosses all of the risks and threats that you mentioned. I think Americans need to understand this.
TikTok poses “a substantial national security threat for the country of a kind that we didn’t face in the past,” according to Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate panel.
Wray’s remarks come a day after the head of the US National Security Agency, General Paul Nakasone, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he was concerned that TikTok could censor videos to influence public opinion in a way that could harm US interests in national security.
As Congress considers giving the Biden administration more authority to address the alleged threat posed by the platform, including banning the app in the United States, TikTok CEO Shou Chew stated this week that the Chinese government has “never asked us for US user data” and the company would not provide it if the government did ask.
This is the latest in a full-court press from US officials to sound the alarm about TikTok’s alleged security risks. Additionally, Chew stated that “our users do not expect that misinformation and propaganda has no place on our platform.”
The company has voluntarily taken measures to isolate US user data from the rest of its global organization, including hosting that data on Oracle’s servers. Additionally, the company is in the process of negotiating a potential agreement with the Biden administration that may, subject to certain conditions, permit TikTok to continue operating in the United States.
A TikTok spokesperson stated in a statement this week that a US government ban would stifle American speech and be “a ban on the export of American culture and values to the more than billion people who use our service worldwide.”
