It is noticed that US military use of TikTok results in security risks. According to a federal communications regulator lobbying to remove the video-sharing software from internet stores, US military personnel endanger national security using the Tik Tok social media site.
However, “pervasive use on personal devices, so I think that’s the problem we need to address,” Brenden Carr, a Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, told a House Panel on Wednesday. Several military branches have banned TikTok from using official devices.
Carr stated, “We’re worried about that data flow back to Beijing.” “With TikTok, you can carry this in your pocket. It is moving within military facilities. You are examining location data, which can notify people of troop movements.
Carr provided testimony at a House committee on safeguarding service personnel and veterans from fraud and financial scams. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s National Security Subcommittee hosted the meeting.
Representative Glenn Grothman, a Wisconsin Republican, said, “We cannot have a discourse about veteran frauds without talking about the information theft occurring on foreign-owned apps like TikTok.”
US officials have questioned TikTok on the possibility that private information about Americans may have been given to China’s totalitarian government. Carr requested that Google and Apple Inc. remove the well-known video app from their stories in a letter sent last month. Carr stated he was awaiting Apple’s response during the hearing on Wednesday. A person with knowledge of the situation said Google has replied.
TikTok Response
ByteDance Ltd., which owns TikTok, said in a letter dated June 30 that some personnel in China have access to data from US users but that no data is shared with the Chinese Communist Party.
A TikTok representative wrote in an email on Wednesday, “Commissioner Carr’s assertions regarding TikTok seem to draw from out-of-date facts, misreadings of our privacy policy, and erroneous reporting from BuzzFeed.” Although the FCC lacks authority over matters of national security relating to apps and app stores, we look forward to briefing Commissioner Carr’s staff on our efforts to protect US user data.
This month, the social network said that some non-US employees who pass internal security checks could access data from US users. Additionally, TikTok stated that it is collaborating with the US Government to improve the security surrounding user data, particularly that designated “protected” by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS).
The latest initiative involves physically keeping US data on US servers in data centers controlled by software juggernaut Oracle Corp.
Video Uploads
TikTok “serves as a sophisticated surveillance tool that gathers huge amounts of personal and sensitive data,” Carr claimed Wednesday.
According to testimony given to Congress, US service members have joined a popular TikTok fad in which they post audio and video of their barracks. Numerous US installations and those in the UK, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Germany, and Afghanistan have provided hundreds of video tours.
The app stores are not subject to FCC regulation. However, because of security concerns, the FCC has recently banned some Chinese-based telecommunications companies from the US market.
