Biden Says He’s Not Sure About TikTok Ban

President Joe Biden did not say if he would. ban TikTok, an app for short video that is owned by China, has been the subject of intense scrutiny due to national security concerns.

“I’m not sure. I know I don’t have it on my phone,” Biden said on Feb. 6, in response to a reporter’s question about TikTok after returning to Washington from a weekend retreat at Camp David.

TikTok is one of America’s most downloaded apps, with an estimated 1.5 billion people worldwide. There are growing concerns about its relationship with ByteDance, a Chinese firm.

Christopher Wray, FBI director in December, said that Chinese ownership could give control to the recommendation algorithm to the Chinese Communist Party. This could allow them to manipulate content or carry out influence operations. Additionally, the app could be used to collect data by the regime. “millions of devices,” Which “gives them the ability to engage in different kinds of malicious cyber activity,” He .

“All of these things are in the hands of a government that doesn’t share our values and that has a mission that’s very much at odds with what’s in the best interest of the United States. That should concern us.”

In a June letter (PDFTikTok, a Chinese-based employee recruitment company, admitted to lawmakers “have access to TikTok U.S. user data subject to a series of robust cybersecurity controls and authorization approval protocols overseen by our U.S.-based security team.” The Chinese staff will also be allowed to access the website. “a narrow, nonsensitive set of TikTok U.S. user data” To “ensure global interoperability.”

The TikTok logo can be seen in Tokyo, Sept. 28, 2020. (Kiichiro Sato/AP Photo)

Previously Recordings leaked As recently as January last year, indicate that Chinese engineers had repeatedly accessed U.S. information.

TikTok, for its part, has stated that it will not provide user data to China’s regime. This is despite American user data being stored on servers located in the United States.

These revelations have triggered bipartisan concern in the United States. Officials from the United States engage in Negotiations ongoing Sen. Mark Warner (D. Virginia), who is the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and has recently joined the platform for data security. Forwarded the Biden administration to accelerate the progress in assessing the threat posed by TikTok’s data collection, saying his “patience is running thin.”

“Even though TikTok has said that’s not the case, there have been constant examples where it has been proven that Chinese engineers are still getting access to that data,” Warner spoke in a Fox Business interview, February 2. This is a significant statement. “every company in China now has to owe its first allegiance, not to shareholders or customers, but to the communist party,” He stated, “the ability to use this as a misinformation or propaganda piece is huge.”

Ex-President Donald Trump, August 2020 ordered A ban on TikTok, and the Chinese social media app WeChat was implemented by the Biden administration in June 2021.https://www.theepochtimes.com/biden-admin-revokes-trump-orders-to-ban-tiktok-will-conduct-own-review_3851268.html”>rescinded The decision was reaffirmed by an independent review.

A total of 30 states have voted to ban TikTok on their government devices.https://www.theepochtimes.com/two-more-us-states-issue-tiktok-bans-for-security-reasons_4934616.html”>Louisiana, West VirginiaAnd Texas. Federal level A $1.65 trillion spending bill Decree passed also banned the app from government devices.

“The security risks associated with the use of TikTok on devices used to conduct the important business of our state must not be underestimated or ignored,” Texas Governor. Greg Abbott, in a February 6, statement

“Owned by a Chinese company that employs Chinese Communist Party members, TikTok harvests significant amounts of data from a user’s device, including details about a user’s internet activity.”

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