Congressman Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has criticized President Joe Biden’s decision to revoke then-President Donald Trump’s executive orders that looked to restrict TikTok in the U.S., saying that the popular cell phone application is a national security risk as it has ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“TikTok is an arm of the Chinese Communist Party, they blatantly steal vast swathes of personal information and threaten our national security with access to that information,” said Gosar, who has represented Arizona’s Fourth Congressional District since 2010, according to his website. “President Trump was right to have ordered a ban on new downloads of the Chinese app and Biden was foolish to have revoked Trump’s executive order. Congress correctly banned TikTok and Biden would be wise to follow suit by protecting our nation from bad actors intent on causing harm.”
In August 2020, Trump issued an executive order that looked to put sanctions on TikTok as well as pressure ByteDance, the China-based parent company, to sell U.S. assets to a company based in America, NPR reported. The order would have taken effect 45 days after it was issued. It stated, “This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail and conduct corporate espionage."
The order noted that TikTok's terms of service state that it can share users' data with ByteDance, which could then in turn share that data with the Chinese government. TikTok said in a statement that it was "shocked" by Trump's order saying that it “sets a dangerous precedent for the concept of free expression and open markets.”
NPR also reported that the Commerce Department tried to prevent TikTok from appearing in app stores due to national security during the Trump administration. Federal judges blocked efforts by Trump to ban the app, however, saying it was “arbitrary and capricious.”
According to a June 2021 report by CNBC, Biden revoked the executive orders made by Trump after he took office. He issued a new order that directed the Commerce Department to review apps that were connected to foreign adversaries, as well as work with agencies to protect data of Americans and recommend legislation.
In August, a group of House Republicans sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo "to express grave concern" about the lack of progress the department has made in this effort, according to a copy of the letter provided to the National Review.
“Certain Chinese information and communications technology providers continue to expand in the U.S., or their equipment remains in place in the U.S., which potentially allows the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to access U.S. persons’ data or disrupt the communication of our defense infrastructure, posing a national security risk to the United States," the letter said.
The Congressmen highlighted recent information that had come to light about China-based employees repeatedly accessing American data. The letter said "it is puzzling why rather than banning TikTok, or taking any action on TikTok to protect American user data, the Department of Commerce is still allowing TikTok to expand in the United States at an alarming rate!"
The lawmakers noted in the letter that the Chinese government takes strong measures to ensure that Chinese citizens' data is not accessed outside of the country and questioned why the U.S. government is failing to do the same.
In December, Catherine Szpindor, the House's chief administrative officer, notified her staff in a memo that her office’s cybersecurity unit had determined that TikTok posed "high risk to users due to a number of security risks.” The memo added that the app must be deleted from mobile phones, NBC reported.
"House staff are NOT allowed to download the TikTok app on any House mobile devices. If you have the TikTok app on your House mobile device, you will be contacted to remove it,” the memo stated.
FBI Director Christopher Wray also expressed concerns over the potential for the Chinese government to engage in espionage or influence through TikTok.
According to NBC News, TikTok issued a statement in December saying that it is working to "meaningfully address any security concerns that have been raised at both the federal and state level. 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."
