Being that social media is very much at the core of what we do, we closely monitor platforms, current and upcoming, trends, and mentions in the news. TikTok is WIDELY popular in 2022 with over 100 million users, however, according to Insurance Journal, the United States FBI Director has stated that the platform poses national security concerns.
Last month, FBI Director Chris Wray highlighted the risks of Chinese-owned TikTok to US lawmakers, indicating, “the possibility that the Chinese government could use [TikTok] to control data collection on millions of users or control the recommendation algorithm, which could be used for influence operations,” and they could use the app to “‘control software on millions of devices,’ giving it the opportunity to ‘technically compromise’ those devices.”
Essentially, the U.S. fears that its users’ data could be passed on to China’s communist government, and rightfully so.
However, Insurance Journal writes that, “CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) and TikTok have been in talks for months aiming to reach a national security agreement to protect the data of TikTok’s more than 100 million users.”
Vanessa Pappas, a TikTok executive, also stated in talks with Congress in September 2022 that TikTok was making “progress toward a final agreement with the U.S. government to further safeguard U.S. user data and fully address U.S. national security interests.”
We’ll be keeping an eye on this.