On Tuesday, the Director of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), Paul Nakasone, raised alarm regarding the influence of the Chinese social media app TikTok.
During a speech at the Senate Armed Services Committee, Nakasone expressed his distress about the data collection by the Chinese-owned app and its massive potential to influence operations.
Nakasone told the GOP Senator from Alabama, Tommy Tuberville:
“TikTok concerns me for a number of different reasons.”
The NSA director revealed that firstly he was troubled regarding the “data that they have.”
He added:
“Secondly is the algorithm and the control of who has the algorithm.”
Nakasone also shed light on the Chinese app’s ability to “turn off the message,” and TikTok’s proactive influence on its users.
Currently, TikTok is being used by over 100 million Americans.
This development comes after the announcement by the White House, according to which, all federal agencies were ordered to get rid of TikTok from all government devices within a month.
Earlier in 2020, the United States government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) instructed the parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, to divest its app because of fears that the Chinese government can get access to the data of the users.
On March 23, the chief executive of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, is scheduled to appear in front of Congress.
The NSA chief’s remarks came after the lawmakers from the Senate proposed the RESTRICT Act.
Reuters reported that Brook Oberwetter, TikTok spokesperson, claimed:
“The swiftest and most thorough way to address any national security concerns about TikTok is for CFIUS – of which the Department of Defense and the NSA are a part – to adopt the proposed agreement that we worked with them on for nearly two years.”
She added that TikTok’s “status has been debated in public in a way that is divorced from the facts of that agreement and what we’ve achieved already.”
