Chinese-owned TikTok is taking steps to assure the U.S. government that it is not stealing personal data or spying on American citizens, according to Reuters.
The company is offering to operate more of its business independently and subject itself to outside scrutiny as it tries to sway the U.S. government to allow TikTok to stay under the ownership of its Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance. The company has reportedly spent $1.5 billion in its efforts to remain in the U.S.
The company proffered these measures after a proposal to ban TikTok on government devices at the federal level appeared set to become law. As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Gov. Greg Abbott has already banned TikTok from state government devices in Texas.
During his presidency, Donald Trump issued an executive order to ban TikTok, calling for a ban not just on government devices but for all Americans for national security reasons. President Biden revoked that executive order in 2021 but has kept negotiations open between his administration and ByteDance, according to Reuters.
TikTok has been making efforts to appear more transparent about its operations, signing an agreement with Oracle to store user data in the U.S., and has created a security division to oversee data protection and content moderation decisions, according to Reuters.
The U.S. Defense Department, FBI, and CIA are still opposed to a security deal with TikTok because officials believe as long as ByteDance runs the company, it will be vulnerable to potential manipulation by the Chinese Communist Party, Reuters added.
TikTok argues a potential ban is more of a political decision than a security one.
“[It is] a political gesture that will do nothing to advance national security interests,” said TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter.
“These plans have been developed under the oversight of our country’s top national security agencies — plans that we are well underway in implementing — to further secure our platform in the United States, and we will continue to brief lawmakers on them,” Oberwetter said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.
The comments come as TikTok is again under fire for security concerns, this time firing four employees for reportedly improperly accessing the personal data of two journalists on its platform, according to CNN Business.
The employees were accused of spying on the journalists’ IP addresses and user data to attempt to see if they were in “the same locales” as ByteDance employees, according to Forbes.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, is ramping up efforts to ban TikTok in the United States altogether. Krishnamoorthi called the government device ban an appropriate initial step and said there is support for more decisive action.
“We’re not just talking about Republicans and Democrats and independents,” said Krishnamoorthi. “We’re talking about parents who are concerned broadly about social media and TikTok in particular.”
