FBI Director Christopher Wray sounded the alarm over the ‘national security concern’ posed by TikTok as the platform faces a ban in the US.
While influencers panic over potentially losing their favorite app, the intelligence chief warned that users should be concerned that their data is being filtered to the ‘Chinese intelligence services.’
‘TikTok, for us, represents a national security concern,’ Wray told NBC Nightly News’ Lester Holt. ‘The reason I say that is TikTok’s parent company is beholden to the Chinese government.’
Wray’s stark warning came after Congress passed a potential TikTok ban as part of a wider set of foreign aid legislation, with the platform now forced to divest from its Chinese-based parent company ByteDance within nine months, or face a total ban.
FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that TikTok poses a ‘national security concern’, particularly due to its Chinese-based parent company’s data farming capabilities
TikTok faces a total ban unless it divests from its parent company ByteDance within nine months following the passage of sweeping legislation in Congress
In particular, Wray warned that Americans should change their perception of TikTok due to its Chinese owners’ capabilities for data farming.
Wray argued that TikTok users should wake up to ‘the power, the access, the capability, the control that TikTok has,’ and how that translates not only to ByteDance, but to the ‘Chinese intelligence services.’
Pointing out the platform’s powerful algorithm that can target users with specific types of videos, Wray said TikTok concerns the FBI because of its ability to ‘collect data on millions and millions of users.’
‘(TikTok) could use it for all sorts of influence operations, like driving their AI efforts which are not even remotely constrained by the rule of law,’ he continued.
‘They are currently attempting to steal our AI and hack American technology every day, and when it comes to TikTok we are concerned very specifically about the risks that that poses given China’s well demonstrated playbook.’
The warning came in response to uproar on TikTok from influencers who said a total ban could destroy their incomes, and felt that Congress was not working in their interests.
President Biden’s support for the ban also angered many, after he had previously embraced the app and invited influencers to the White House.
Keith Edwards, an influencer with over 14,000 followers on TikTok said it was not a good look for Biden, who continues struggling with young voters.
‘It’s not going to have an electoral impact, because voters don’t consider things real until it actually happens,’ he said in an interview with the DailyMail.com in March.
‘But it’s not great we’re talking about this when Joe Biden had finally shifted the vibes for him in a positive direction.’
Social media influencer Keith Edwards told the Daily Mail that Biden and Democrats were sending the wrong message to young people by supporting a TikTok ban
President Biden greets digital content creators at the White House
Despite uproar from TiKTok users, the platform now looks set to either be divested or entirely banned following a 360-58 vote this week in the House.
The TikTok measure was part of a wider set of foreign aid legislation that the House passed Saturday afternoon, totaling $95 billion for U.S. partners abroad.
The package in total gives $26 billion to Israel, $60.8 billion to Ukraine and $8 billion to the Indo-Pacific through a combination of military and humanitarian aid.
Lawmakers have been weary of the app’s capabilities with one Democrat senator warning it is like ‘a gun pointed at Americans’ heads.’
A spokesperson for the popular app previously told DailyMail.com that the legislation had a ‘predetermined’ outcome, which is a ‘total ban of TikTok in the United States.’
In response to the most recent vote, a TikTok spokesperson added to DailyMail.com: ‘It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans’.
The spokesperson added that the move would ‘devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the U.S. economy, annually.’
