Two senators from the Judiciary Committee called on the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to declassify information about national security risks posed by the popular video-sharing app TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines on March 21, saying the American public needs to know their ties to “Chinese governments’ influence and espionage activities.”
“I’m demanding declassification of TikTok facts—because the American people deserve & need to know the chilling truth about TikTok—it’s a clear & present threat to national security & privacy. It’s a weapon pointed at Americans that all should see clearly,” Mr. Blumenthal wrote on X, formerly Twitter, announcing their letter.
“American intelligence & law enforcement officials on a bipartisan basis have repeatedly raised alarms that the Chinese government can use its direct & absolute control over ByteDance to exert malign influence over what users see on TikTok & spy on their private information,” he wrote in another post.
“As we consider steps to separate TikTok from the Chinese gov’t, the American people must understand the national security issues at stake.
“I’m urging the declassification of information about TikTok/ByteDance,” he added.
The House passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act following a bipartisan 352–65 vote. If enacted, the legislation would prohibit U.S. app stores from hosting TikTok unless ByteDance divests the app. The aim is to free the app from the influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The TikTok legislation now faces an uncertain future in the Senate. While Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) have endorsed the House-passed TikTok bill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has yet to commit to bringing the legislation to a vote.
In their letter, Mr. Blumenthal and Ms. Blackburn said they “are deeply troubled by the information and concerns raised by the intelligence community in recent classified briefings to Congress.”
Citing media reports, both lawmakers noted that TikTok “has stored” Americans’ data on Chinese servers, and the app has “censored videos critical of China’s human rights abuses.”
Some rights groups endorsed the TikTok legislation before the House vote. In a letter to Congress members on March 6, Washington-based Campaign for Uyghurs wrote: “ByteDance’s algorithms on platforms, such as TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin, suppress content depicting the Uyghur plight and criticisms of the Chinese government’s policies in the Uyghur Region and instead disseminate CCP-aligned propaganda.”
National Security Issues
“As Congress and the Administration consider steps to address TikTok’s ties to the Chinese government, it is critically important that the American people, especially TikTok users, understand the national security issues at stake,” the letter says, before adding that doing so can “better educate the public on the indeed for urgent action.”Earlier this month, Ms. Haines told a congressional hearing that she “cannot rule out that the CCP would use” TikTok to influence the 2024 U.S. elections.
In a report released on March 11, ODNI warned that “TikTok accounts run by a PRC propaganda arm reportedly targeted candidates from both political parties during the U.S. midterm election cycle in 2022.” PRC is the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.
“The PRC may attempt to influence the U.S. elections in 2024 at some level because of its desire to sideline critics of China and magnify U.S. societal divisions,” ODNI added.
In 2023, Australian-based cybersecurity firm Internet 2.0 published a report saying that TikTok was harvesting users’ data, including locations, contacts, and passwords.
Several senators have urged for a quick vote on the TikTok legislation, including Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).
“The House-passed bill to mandate TikTok divest from ByteDance must be brought to the Senate floor swiftly to protect American user data and our children,” Ms. Capito wrote on X on March 24.
