Security concerns regarding TikTok, which have passed in and out of Congress for years, surged back into focus again recently as the House Committee on Homeland Security gathered federal agencies for a classified briefing on the Chinese firm-owned app.
In a meeting led by U.S. Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), chairman of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence, and attended by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), attendees reportedly discussed potential nefarious activities by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on the service. It came mere days after President Joe Biden joined TikTok as part of his re-election campaign.
“Today’s briefing is an important step in examining the strategy of these departments in confronting such an urgent security threat, but we are not done with our oversight efforts,” Pfluger said. “This briefing comes as the President has proudly joined TikTok, even after signing into law a bill to ban its use on federal government devices. This contradiction is of grave concern for the Committee, as the commander-in-chief should not be using an app owned by a Beijing company with deep CCP ties––especially as it could easily take advantage of backdoors in the app’s source code to spy on users.”
TikTok remains a popular app despite its controversy in recent years. In the United States alone, approximately 150 million users make use of its videos, but Republican members of Congress have repeatedly denounced the service as a national and personal data security threat. Pfluger denounced it for what he called glorification of terrorists, silencing of dissent and promotion of anti-American propaganda, although such things can be found on essentially all social media apps to date, American or otherwise.
“I appreciate these departments taking the time to brief the Committee and look forward to working closely with them to ensure this very real threat is prioritized,” Pfluger said. “DHS, DOJ, and ODNI have an immense responsibility to address the CCP’s malign influence and espionage efforts on U.S. soil, and they must continue to share with the Committee the actions they are taking to combat this threat to our homeland security.”
The briefing was requested by Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, MD (R-TN) and Pfluger last month.