“With over 110 million downloads in the U.S. alone, TikTok is a potential counterintelligence threat we cannot ignore,” wrote Schumer and Cotton, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee. The app’s meteoric rise has coincided with heightened political tensions between Washington and Beijing, driven largely by a trade war that has hurt both nations’ economies. In their letter, Schumer and Cotton questioned TikTok’s terms of service, saying the app collects a wide array of data, including information about a user’s location. ADADSchumer and Cotton further raised the possibility that TikTok follows Chinese censorship regulations and limits videos on sensitive political topics, including recent protests in Hong Kong. ADADThe letter to Maguire marks the second congressional request for the government to delve into TikTok.

Source: Washington Post October 24, 2019 14:02 UTC