Description
Rob Joyce, head of the US National Security Agency's cybersecurity arm, said popular video-sharing app TikTok is China's "Trojan horse" and poses a long-term strategic cybersecurity problem. Joyce said it was essential for the US government to monitor TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd., to prevent a security incident "in five, 10 or 20" years, rather than a "tactical" threat. imminent. "Why are you bringing the Trojan horse into the fortress?" Joyce said Monday at the Silverado Accelerator Conference in Napa, California. "Why would you bring this capability to the United States when the Chinese could manipulate the data we see to include things they want to present to our people, divisive material, or remove things that paint them in a bad light? Wouldn't you like to be exposed to the American people?
Politicians and cybersecurity experts have repeatedly raised concerns that TikTok's parent company has too much information about its 150 million US monthly users, and argue that the actions taken by the app to separate the data are not enough to prevent a meddling government in Beijing.
TikTok CEO Shou Chew faced questioning during a US House committee hearing last week as he tried to protect his company from a possible ban or forced sale, fearing it would the application poses a security issue.
At last week's hearing, Chew said TikTok posed no more risk than social media giants like Google's YouTube and Meta Platform Inc's Instagram, and said his company had more security measures in place than any of its Western competitors. due to longstanding suspicions.
