In a world conflict, China’s communist government could use TikTok’s massive data set against the US is terrifying, a witness told a Senate committee Wednesday.
TikTok App created by China might use the data against US (Source: Forbes)
China Government to Use TikTok
At a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on mitigating China’s harmful influence operations in the United States, Vice Chair Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, pointed out that TikTok could “collect massive amounts of data.” He wondered if China could use those facts to sway American opinion against a rival country in the run-up to an expected fight, like the one with the Philippines. Renowned research scientist Dr. Glenn Tiffert of the Hoover Institution, an expert on China’s political and judicial history, says the scenario put forward is the kind that we think about all the time and find completely terrifying. He thinks there’s a chance China may employ those algorithms to weaken the opposition and emerge victorious in a big war.
According to Tiffert, “what is arresting” is that China has enacted data security laws during the past few years, allowing it to absorb “as much as it can” of global data without leaking any of it. Tiffert claims that China and Xi Jinping are attempting to establish the world’s biggest data warehouse so the CCP can utilize it for any objective. While ByteDance insists it has never sent data to the Chinese government, TikTok is blocked on government-issued smartphones in the US and several other nations.
Due to judicial decisions, former President Donald Trump was not able to implement an app download ban in 2020. Dec. 16: Democratic senator from Virginia and chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence Mark Warner says he is sorry to say that it would have been simpler to act then rather than now if Donald Trump had been correct and they could have done so.
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