But a TikTok executive, in a rare interview with CNN’s “Reliable Sources” on Sunday, said there are no security concerns surrounding the wildly successful app.
The short-form video app is the most downloaded in the world, surpassing Instagram with 3.5 billion downloads. Users spend an average of at least 46 minutes per day on the app, which puts it ahead of its competition.
On the surface, TikTok is certainly lighthearted, allowing users to share content including dance videos and cooking tutorials. But critics believe something more sinister may be embedded in its model, claiming its power comes from its data collection and algorithms.
TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, which means the company is essentially under the control of the Chinese government, CNN Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter said.
Bytedance promised to store American data on servers in the United States to quell concerns. But an explosive Buzzfeed News report published two weeks ago revealed that, according to leaked audio of internal meetings, engineers in China had repeated access to user data in the US.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told Stelter lawmakers asked TikTok directly if it had access to any data from Beijing. Rather than being forthright, he said, the company has repeatedly said that all US user data is stored in the US.
“And it’s not just a national security issue, but it looks to me like a violation of the app store terms,” Carr said. He has written to Google and Apple asking them to exclude TikTok from their app stores, giving them until July 8 to respond.
The FCC has no jurisdiction over social media, Stelter pointed out. But Carr said the FCC has developed an understanding of how the Chinese government can take data and penetrate communications.
Claims that TikTok collects browser history are “simply false,” said Michael Beckerman, head of public policy, Americas, at TikTok. He also said that while the app scans your face for filters, it doesn’t use it to identify faces.
Stelter asked if any members of the Chinese Communist Party had seen non-public TikTok user data. “The answer is that we have never shared information with the Chinese government, nor would we,” Beckerman said, adding that they have US-based security teams.
“Are the TikTok engineers, the people who are developing this tool, are they building this tool, are they beholden to China and is this a threat to the US?” Stelter asked again.
“No, absolutely not. TikTok is not a security threat,” Beckerman said, adding that TikTok is willing to be transparent and work with stakeholders.
The Buzzfeed report also said there were concerns that China could use TikTok to “influence the commercial, cultural or political behavior of Americans.”
“Yeah, I just don’t see that,” Beckerman said, saying the videos he sees are from U.S. creators.
Beckerman said the app does not allow political ads and is primarily an entertainment platform. Stelter pointed to investigations by The Wall Street Journal that found users going down “rabbit holes” on topics like eating disorders. “(Harmful content) is a problem for the Internet as a whole,” Beckerman said.
“This is something we’ve worked very hard on to eliminate from our platform anything that is dangerous or harmful, violates our community rules.”
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