US Intelligence Raises Alarm over TikTok’s Potential for Chinese Election Interference
The nation’s top intelligence officials have sounded the alarm over the Chinese government’s ability to leverage the popular social media platform TikTok to influence the upcoming 2024 US presidential election. During a House of Representatives intelligence committee hearing, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines explicitly stated that they cannot rule out the possibility of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) using TikTok for such purposes.
Lawmakers have long harbored concerns that the Chinese government could access user data or manipulate the content displayed on the app, potentially fueling political divisions within the United States. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking Democrat on the House select committee on China, directly questioned Haines about the CCP’s potential exploitation of TikTok for election influence.
In response to these concerns, Krishnamoorthi and Republican committee chair Mike Gallagher recently introduced legislation that would give TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, approximately six months to divest from the short video app, which boasts a user base of 170 million Americans. The House is scheduled to vote on this bill under fast-track rules on Wednesday, requiring a two-thirds majority for passage.
TikTok, which has consistently denied sharing US user data with the Chinese government and asserts its commitment to protecting user privacy, argues that the proposed bill effectively amounts to a ban on the app. While President Joe Biden has expressed his willingness to sign the bill into law, the legislation’s passage through both chambers of Congress during an election year may face considerable hurdles, given TikTok’s widespread popularity.
The 2024 annual threat assessment released by the US Intelligence Community on Monday highlighted instances where TikTok accounts affiliated with Chinese government propaganda agencies reportedly targeted candidates from both major political parties during the 2022 midterm election cycle.
Echoing these concerns, FBI Director Christopher Wray reiterated his assessment of TikTok posing national security threats during the House hearing. Wray cautioned Americans to consider whether they want to grant the Chinese government the ability to control access to their data, potentially compromising their devices.
As the debate over TikTok’s future in the US intensifies, intelligence officials remain steadfast in their warnings about the app’s potential exploitation by the Chinese government, underscoring the urgency of addressing these concerns ahead of the pivotal 2024 presidential election.
Divya