Senators Mark Warner and Marco Rubio, who lead the Senate Intelligence Committee, voiced concerns on Sunday about the national security threat posed by TikTok, a popular social media app owned by a China-based company. Both senators emphasized the app’s potential for data collection and manipulation by the Chinese government.
Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, highlighted TikTok’s popularity among American youth and its role as a news source, pointing out that the app’s data collection could be exploited by the Chinese Communist Party for propaganda purposes.
Sens. Mark Warner and Marco Rubio (Credits: CBS News)
He described TikTok as potentially “the most powerful propaganda tool ever.” Rubio, a Republican from Florida, focused on the app’s algorithm, which is owned by ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company.
He noted that under Chinese law, ByteDance must maintain control of the algorithm, which means that engineers in China could have access to user data regardless of where the company is headquartered.
Sens. Mark Warner and Marco Rubio (Credits: CBS News)
The senators’ remarks come amid a renewed push in Congress to address the TikTok issue, with a House bill proposing to force the company to sell the app or face a ban from U.S. app stores.
President Biden has indicated that he would sign the legislation if it passes both chambers of Congress, despite his recent campaign presence on TikTok, which Warner criticized as sending a contradictory message.
