FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers Wednesday that TikTok is a tool within the control of the Chinese government, and the popular video-sharing application “screams out” with national security concerns and could be used to drive narratives that divide Americans.
The Chinese government, working through TikTok owner ByteDance, could use the platform to control data on millions of users and the software on millions of devices, Wray told lawmakers during an open hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“Something that’s very sacred in our country — the difference between the private sector and the public sector — that’s a line that is nonexistent in the way the [Chinese Communist Party] operates,” Wray said.
