FBI Chief Claims China Has Stolen More US Data Than ‘Every Other Nation Combined’
A logo of a smartphone app TikTok is seen on a user post on a smartphone screen Monday, Sept. 28, 2020, in Tokyo
Mary ManleyThe FBI head’s statement on Tuesday comes just a day after President Joe Biden met with China’s leader Xi Jingping in an effort to repair a damaged relationship between the two nations. The meeting was warm but blunt, and covered Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, tension in the Taiwan Strait, and North Korea’s missile tests.Christopher Wray, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, told the House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday that China has stolen more data from American businesses and private persons than any other nation.One of the main security concerns that worries Wray is the social media app TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based Bytedance,and is subject to fall under China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law that requires citizens and businesses to assist in intelligence gathering, and to share collected intelligence.”China’s vast hacking program is the world’s largest and they have stolen more Americans personal and business data than every other nation combined,” said Wray, who served as an assistant attorney general under former President George W. Bush.“We do have national security concerns at least from the FBI’s end about TikTok,” Wray said. “They include the possibility that the Chinese government could use it to control data collection on millions of users. Or control the recommendation algorithm, which could be used for influence operations if they so chose. Or to control software on millions of devices, which gives it the opportunity to potentially technically compromise personal devices.”Wray added that “there’s a number of concerns there as to what is actually happening and actually being done” in relation to whether or not TikTok is sharing data information with the Chinese government, the details of which remain unknown.The official’s concerns have previously been touched on by former US President Donald Trump and Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Mark Warner (D-VA), as well as Brendan Carr, the Republican Federal Communications commissioner who earlier called for Google and Apple to ban the app from their stores. In fact, both Rubio and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) recently called for an all-out ban against TikTok in an opinion piece that cited allegations of China’s perceived abuses of the app, which can be used to track a mobile phone’s location and collect Internet-browsing data. 
Science & TechUS Lawmakers Call for TikTok Ban Over Claims China Abuses Platform to Spy on Users11 November, 02:11 GMTMeanwhile, certain branches of the government including the military have already banned their workers from having the app on their phones.TikTok, one of the most popular apps in the world, has more than 1 billion users (as of September 2021), and has Silicon Valley CEOs trying to figure out how they can compete with the Beijing-based company.
