Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner Brendan Carr stated that the U.S. should outlaw the video-sharing software TikTok to protect the privacy of American residents.
In an interview with Axios, Carr, one of the five commissioners who oversee the FCC, stated that it is impossible to have “sufficient confidence” that the app is not sending American users’ data back to Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). ByteDance, a major Chinese internet company, is the owner of TikTok, and Chinese legislation requires businesses to provide requested data to the CCP.
In order, TikTok is presently litigating with the U.S. Council on Foreign Investment (CFIUS) to see if it is possible to separate the app from ByteDance and permit it to function in the United States, something that former President Donald Trump pursued before leaving office. However, Carr explained, “I don’t believe there is a path forward for anything other than a ban. There isn’t a world in which you could come up with sufficient protection on the data that you could have sufficient confidence that it’s not finding its way back into the hands of the CCP.”
In a statement to Axios, TikTok rebutted Carr, asserting that the commissioner has no bearing on the legal dispute with the CFIUS. Carr and other critics of Chinese applications have encouraged other federal agencies and Congress to take action because the FCC lacks the jurisdiction to control TikTok. TikTok stated, “Commissioner Carr has no role in the confidential discussions with the U.S. government related to TikTok and appears to be expressing views independent of his role as an FCC commissioner.” They added, “We are confident that we are on a path to reaching an agreement with the U.S. Government that will satisfy all reasonable national security concerns.”
Despite claims from TikTok reps that user data is secure, business officials have confessed under oath that the information is accessible from China. Additionally, that access is often used. In July, Buzzfeed reported that American staff members could not access user data and had to rely on Chinese staff members instead.
