US lawmakers keep warning about the popular app. But until they can explain what makes it uniquely dangerous, it’s difficult to tailor a resolution.
Still, it is unclear whether TikTok poses a unique and specific threat to US national security or if it is simply a convenient proxy through which lawmakers are grappling with larger issues of data security and privacy, disinformation, content moderation, and influence in a globalized tech market.
Then there's the power imbalance TikTok may create. One thing about TikTok, in particular, is that its popularity and proliferation within the US could make it a one-stop shop for the Chinese government to mine the data of US users and launch influence operations in the US. Meanwhile, the US government may feel that it lacks a comparable mechanism through which it can so directly pull Chinese user data and work to sway public opinion in China.
“Let's assume for a second that US intelligence has access to WeChat. They would have to fight hard for that access, and it would constantly be at risk of discovery and neutralization. China, on the other hand, doesn't have to fight for access to TikTok; they have it by statutory authority,” says Jake Williams, director of cyber-threat intelligence at the security firm Scythe and a former National Security Agency hacker.
Given its immense popularity, its ownership, and the fact that the bulk of TikTok activity is public by nature, there is no clear technical solution to boxing China out of the service. The question is whether the US government wants to devise a business solution or incentivize development of an appealing alternative platform. Still, privacy violations, security concerns, and foreign influence operations against US residents through social media are problems the US government has yet to solve.
“One thing that we really should escalate here is that the US should be leading by example,” Freedom House's Vesteinsson says. “When we talk about expanding the US government’s surveillance powers, that sets a really bad example for governments around the world.”
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