Why state, U.S. officials want to ban TikTok - The Dallas Morning News

A question to prohibition TikTok successful the U.S. is increasing implicit cybersecurity concerns.

Nearly 20 states — including Texas, Maryland and Utah — person banned the societal media app from government-issued devices. The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a measure past week that would prohibition the level from devices issued by national agencies.

The video-sharing app, owned by the Chinese institution ByteDance, soared to popularity since its debut successful 2016. It present has much than 100 cardinal users successful the U.S. alone.

But authorities and national authorities person sounded alarms implicit cybersecurity and the imaginable for espionage by China.

What is TikTok?

TikTok allows users to make and stock abbreviated videos connected conscionable astir immoderate topic.

People person utilized the level to poke amusive of a Plano megachurch’s extravagant Christmas production, seizure children’s joyousness seeing The Little Mermaid’s Black Ariel for the archetypal time, promote radical to navigator chicken drenched successful NyQuil and amusement disconnected beautiful food boards.

Users sing, dance, chat astir hobbies, play applicable jokes. It’s a originative free-for-all.

Users navigate the app similar Facebook and Instagram, by scrolling up and down done a feed. And conscionable similar those sites, you comment, stock and similar videos.

So what’s the large deal?

Concerns implicit cybersecurity person prompted attempts to ace down connected the platform.

FBI Director Christopher Wray precocious said the app is controlled by “a authorities that doesn’t stock our values.” Wray said that China could usage the app to some cod delicate information connected Americans and dispersed propaganda done its proposal algorithm. TikTok is already banned connected U.S. subject devices.

In an bid issued successful aboriginal December, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the authorities has the work and accidental to support itself.

“The menace of the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate the United States continues to turn connected aggregate fronts,” Abbott wrote to the heads of authorities agencies.

At contented is simply a law successful China that requires companies similar ByteDance to comply with requests from the authorities to manus implicit their data.

What does TikTok say?

TikTok spokesperson Jamal Brown said the concerns driving bans “are mostly fueled by misinformation astir our company.”

“We are ever blessed to conscionable with authorities policymakers to sermon our privateness and information practices,” Brown said. “We are disappointed that the galore authorities agencies, offices, and universities that person been utilizing TikTok to physique communities and link with constituents volition nary longer person entree to our platform.”

TikTok Chief Operating Officer Vanessa Pappas has said the institution protects each American users’ information and that Chinese authorities officials person nary entree to it.

This month, TikTok announced it volition soon commencement explaining to users wherefore it is recommending a peculiar video to them. A caller feature, called “For You” is portion of the company’s program to beryllium much transparent astir its algorithm.

This each sounds familiar, right?

Yes. Former President Donald Trump attempted to artifact caller U.S. users from downloading WeChat and TikTok successful 2020, which would person efficaciously blocked the usage of these apps successful the United States, but mislaid a bid of tribunal battles.

In June 2021, President Joe Biden withdrew the Trump enforcement order that sought to prohibition caller TikTok downloads. Biden besides ordered a Commerce Department reappraisal of information concerns posed by TikTok, WeChat and others.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.