CIA Finds ‘No Evidence’ Chinese Government Has Accessed TikTok Data, Report Says

By Rachel Sandler

August 10, 2020 "Information Clearing House" - The CIA concluded there is “no evidence” Chinese intelligence services have ever accessed data from TikTok, the New York Times reported Friday, after the White House took steps to ban the app in the U.S. over national security and privacy concerns.

KEY FACTS

CIA analysts concluded that it is possible for China to siphon off data from TikTok since it is owned by Chinese tech firm ByteDance, but there is no evidence they have done so, according to the New York Times.

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The Trump administration hasn’t accused China of already taking Tik Tok data on U.S. users, but has instead warned that China could potentially track the locations of federal employees, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail and conduct corporate espionage with TikTok data if it wanted to.

U.S. lawmakers are particularly concerned about a 2017 law that mandates Chinese companies “support, assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work in accordance with the law.”

Sen. Mark Warner (D-V.A.) said Friday that TikTok is a problem, but isn’t as urgent a threat as Huawei, a Chinese company that makes telecom equipment for 5G networks.

Rachel Sandler is a San Francisco-based reporter covering breaking news at Forbes. Follow her on Twitter. - "Source" -