It’s clear why people are concerned about China’s ultimate control of the TikTok app; they don’t want their data to be spied on by the Chinese Communist Party or to have the same party influence content on the platform. But people are also concerned about the growing access to the data that the US government has on apps too.
According to a report by Forbes, the Biden administration has allegedly tried to enter into a deal with the Chinese app, TikTok, to gain direct power over elements of the app that would effectively let the US government spy on its own citizens.
This meticulous inspection of the draft agreement that could have been signed between TikTok and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (we don’t yet know) reveals the disquieting lengths that the administration could potentially go to maintain surveillance on American citizens.
The explosive exposé by Forbes outlines a powerful means by which the Department of Defense and Department of Justice could have gotten direct access to activities by Americans using TikTok, without any prior notice or explanation to users.
In return for granting permission to TikTok to continue its operations in America, US agencies could have freely searched through TikTok’s US offices, files, and servers. This blatant invasion of privacy would actually mirror tactics used by the Chinese Communist Party to keep its populace under constant vigilance.
It creates an alarming precedent, suggesting that the basic privacy rights of US citizens could be up for negotiation.
TikTok’s initial response to the report, though tempered, did not deny the specifics of the revelations. Their statement attested to a longstanding cooperation with CFIUS. Furthermore, it emphasized the company’s implementation of robust data segregation systems to protect the US user data from any potential misuse.
The recently discovered evidence underscores the fears of overreach that surfaced after a federal court ruling in July. The court had explicitly chided the Biden administration for manifesting elements reminiscent of an “Orwellian Ministry of Truth,” implying a worrisome alliance with Big Tech platforms to muzzle opinions that clashed with the administration’s narrative during the Covid crisis.
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