‘Zackly. What could possibly go wrong? Moreover, it’s not like some of us haven’t predicted it from the very beginning. TikTok, the popular video-sharing app (the most downloaded app on the planet), owned by Communist China’s ByteDance, has finally fessed up. Yup, what could possibly go wrong?
This, for starters:
TikTok, as reported by Bloomberg, has confirmed that “certain company employees” based in China have access to the personal information of American users. The company’s admission came in the form of a letter to nine U.S. senators, all Republicans, who have raised alarms about TikTok’s controversial data-sharing practices. The senators have repeatedly asked:
Do China-based employees have access to U.S. users’ data?
What role do those employees play in shaping TikTok’s algorithms?
Is any of that information shared with the Chinese government?
Let’s cut to the chase: Yes. A lot. And of course, user data is shared with the Chinese government.
Moreover, virtually every Chinese citizen is a potential operative of the Communists in Beijing. If for no other reason, Chinese citizens cooperate with the ChiComs out of fear. Those who refuse to do so tend to “disappear.” Here’s more, via Bloomberg:
China-based employees who clear a number of internal security protocols can access certain information on TikTok’s U.S. users, including public videos and comments, TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Zi Chew said in the June 30 letter obtained by Bloomberg News. None of that information is shared with the Chinese government, and it is subject to “robust cybersecurity controls,” he said.
The social network said it’s working with the US government on strengthening data security around that information — particularly anything defined as “protected” by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, or CFIUS.
This new effort, called “Project Texas,” includes physically storing US information in data centers on US servers owned by software giant Oracle Corp. TikTok is also shifting its platform to Oracle’s cloud infrastructure, which means the app and the algorithm will be accessed and deployed for US users from domestic data centers.
“None of that information is shared with the Chinese government, and it is subject to ‘robust cybersecurity controls.'” Uh-huh. Sure it’s not — and sure it is.
Anyone who believes the above lies hasn’t been paying attention to China’s aggressive efforts to steal American technology at the highest level, for years. Yet, we’re supposed to believe that personal data contained in U.S. TikTok accounts, which might very well be of interest to the Communists, wouldn’t find its way to Beijing? Don’t be dumb like Biden and the Democrats, people.
Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn told Bloomberg on Friday:
“TikTok’s response confirms our fears about the CCP’s influence in the company were well-founded. The Chinese-run company should have come clean from the start, but it attempted to shroud its work in secrecy. Americans need to know [that] if they are on TikTok, Communist China has their information.”
Blackburn couldn’t have been more right.
As noted by Bloomberg, BuzzFeed News reported that TikTok’s U.S. consumer data was accessed by company engineers in China. The nine Republican senators said TikTok and its parent “are using their access to a treasure trove of U.S. consumer data to surveil Americans.”
While Joe “China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man” Biden and the Democrat Party kowtow to Beijing at every opportunity, leaving the Republican Party alone to stand against Xi Jinping and China’s theft of not only U.S. technology and intellectual property; but also the potential threat to personal data of millions of Americans.
Don’t be like Joe, America. China can indeed eat our lunch. They already are, in a variety of ways.
And again, what could possibly go wrong?
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