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FBI Director Chris Wray recently raised national security concerns about TikTok, warning that the Chinese government, which does not share American values, controls the app.
The associated press reports that Wray, speaking at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, said that the Chinese government could use the app to collect personal information about US users – information that could be used for nefarious purposes . “All of these things are in the hands of a government that doesn’t share our values,” Wray said, “and has a mission that is antithetical to what is in the best interests of the United States. That should be a concern to us.”
The AP notes that President Donald Trump’s administration attempted to ban TikTok two years ago and that current US officials are in talks with the app’s parent company, Bytedance, about solutions to US security concerns.
TikTok acknowledged in a statement to the AP that it is cooperating with the US:
“As Director Wray has previously said, the FBI’s input is considered part of our ongoing negotiations with the U.S. government,” TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said in an emailed statement. “While we cannot comment on the details of those confidential discussions, we are confident that we are on track to fully address all reasonable concerns about U.S. national security and that we have already made significant progress in implementing those solutions.”
As the AP said, TikTok has previously answered questions about US security concerns, with Chief Operating Officer Vanessa Pappas telling the US Senate last September that it will “never share data, period”.
