US Officials Label TikTok a National Security Challenge, Yet Evidence Remains Unclear
The head of the National Security Agency’s cybersecurity directorate, Rob Joyce, has said that TikTok poses a strategic issue for the US, rather than an immediate tactical threat. He reiterated the agency’s previous concerns that the Chinese-owned app represents a “loaded gun” that China could use to control the information Americans see. Some experts, however, have questioned the evidence behind these fears. While bipartisan concern about the app is growing in the US, there is still no public evidence that the Chinese government has spied on people through TikTok, and the app’s data-handling practices are similar to those of American social media platforms. Paris has announced it will ban all recreational apps from work devices, although it has not singled out TikTok.
