Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte on Wednesday signed a law banning China’s TikTok from operating in the state to “protect Montanans” from Chinese surveillance, making it the first US state to ban the popular short video app.
Here is a detailed list of US charges against the company and its parent company, Bytedance.
-TikTok management is loyal to the Chinese government
In November, FBI Director Chris Wray said TikTok posed a national security risk, and said Chinese companies “should do whatever the Chinese government wants to do in terms of sharing information or acting as a tool of the Chinese government.”
Members of Congress complained in March that the Chinese government had a “golden stake” in Byte Dance, giving it power over TikTok. TikTok said that “a Chinese government-affiliated company owns 1% of ByteDance subsidiary Twoin Information Service” and that the holding “will not affect ByteDance’s global business outside of China, including TikTok.”
TikTok can be used to influence Americans
The FBI’s Wray said TikTok’s U.S. activities raise national security concerns because the Chinese government could use the video-sharing app to infect users or monitor their devices.
Risks include the “possibility of the Chinese government”. [TikTok] Data collection from millions of users is used to validate or validate recommendation algorithms, which can be used for influencer activities,” Ray told US lawmakers.
In March, National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone raised concerns about the data TikTok collects, the algorithm used to distribute information to users, and “control over who owns the algorithm.”
He said the TikTok platform can enable sweeping influence operations because TikTok can preemptively influence users and “turn off the message”.
TikTok says it “will not allow any government to influence or change its referral model”.
-TikTok will hand over US data to Chinese government officials
Lawmakers have said the Chinese government could force ByteDance to share TikTok user data under a 2017 law on national intelligence. Because TikTok is based in California and Delaware, it claims to be subject to US laws and regulations.
TikTok’s executive has said the company has never shared US user data with the Chinese government.
-TikTok use affects children’s mental health
In March 2022, eight states, including California and Massachusetts, launched investigations into whether TikTok was harming the physical and mental health of young people and the company’s knowledge of its role in this harm.
The research focuses on how TikTok drives engagement among young users, including increasing the length of time spent on the platform and how often it is used.
TikTok says it “has taken a number of measures to ensure that teenagers under 18 have a safe and enjoyable experience using the app, and these measures impose restrictions that many similar platforms do not have.”
TikTok is spying on journalists
In December, Byte Dance said some employees had improperly accessed TikTok user data from two journalists. ByteDance employees accessed the data as part of a failed attempt to investigate the company’s leaks earlier this year, which aimed to identify possible connections between two journalists, a former BuzzFeed reporter and a Financial Times reporter, and company employees.
Four Byte Dance employees involved in the incident, including two in China and two in the United States, have been fired, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Company officials said they are taking additional steps to protect user data.
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