The threat of TikTok

U.S. officials say TikTok is a national security risk. They try to take advantage of it.

The platforms are so powerful that their names are verbs: Google, Uber, Instagram, Netflix.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">For years, the dominance of American technology companies has brought economic benefits to the United States. It also offered an advantage in a less obvious area: national security.

Tech companies collect incredible amounts of data about their users. They know where we travel, who our friends are and what we watch. Governments want to use this data for surveillance, law enforcement and spying purposes. So they pirate, hoard, steal and buy. For years, the United States has had an advantage over other countries. With court approval, the government can require US-based social media giants subject to US law to hand over user data.

"We had this advantage that we thought it would last forever," said security expert and Harvard scholar Bruce Schneier.

Then came TikTok. he social media app, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has more than a billion users. TikTok says that includes about 150 million Americans. Under China's authoritarian state, the government exercises extensive control over tech companies and their data. U.S. officials are concerned that China is using TikTok to promote its interests and gather personal information about Americans. One Republican has called it a "spy balloon in your phone."

< p class="css-at9mc1 ev ys1bk0">TikTok is the latest flashpoint in the two countries' struggle for supremacy. Last week, TikTok said US officials had given its Chinese ownership two options: Sell the app or risk a nationwide ban. This morning, lawmakers will question TikTok chief executive Shou Chew about the app's ties to China.

Today I'll explain the fight against TikTok and how the US is trying to use the app to its advantage.

The concerns

This fight is ostensibly about data: who controls it and determines how they appear on TikTok. The United States has two main reasons to be concerned.

The first is the threat of Chinese espionage. BuzzFeed discovered that ByteDance engineers in China had accessed US users' private data. ByteDance also admitted that employees, including two based in China, had spied on journalists and obtained their IP addresses, but said company executives had not signed off and the employees had been fired. Despite ByteDance's close ties to China, TikTok has denied providing data to the government.

Second, ByteDance may be using TikTok's algorithms to influence Americans. TikTok has been accused of censoring videos on politically sensitive topics for China, such as Tibetan independence and the Tiananmen Square massacre.

“A Chinese company owns what has become the number one culture-maker in the United States today,” said Sapna Maheshwari, a Times reporter who covers TikTok. Going forward, lawmakers say, it's easy to imagine how China could use TikTok to shape American attitudes toward Taiwan - or a US presidential campaign.

The United States is stepping up its efforts to limit the power of TikTok. The federal government and more than half of the states have banned TikTok f...