Risks embody “the possibility that the Chinese government could use to control data collection on millions of users or control the recommendation algorithm, which could be used for influence operations,” Wray informed U.S. lawmakers.

Beijing may additionally use the favored app, owned by ByteDance, to “control software on millions of devices,” giving it the chance to “technically compromise” these units, he added.

The U.S. authorities’s Committee on Foreign Investment within the United States (CFIUS), which evaluations U.S. acquisitions by overseas acquirers for potential nationwide safety dangers, in 2020 ordered ByteDance to divest TikTok due to fears that U.S. consumer information may very well be handed on to China’s communist authorities.

CFIUS and TikTok have been in talks for months aiming to succeed in a nationwide safety settlement to guard the information of TikTok’s greater than 100 million customers.

TikTok govt Vanessa Pappas informed U.S. Congress in September that TikTok was making “progress toward a final agreement with the U.S. government to further safeguard U.S user data and fully address U.S. national security interests.”

When requested concerning the FBI’s function within the CFIUS investigation, Wray stated the company’s overseas funding unit was a part of the CFIUS course of. “Our input would be taken into account in any agreements that might be made to address the issue,” he added.

Wray famous Chinese firms are required to basically “do whatever the Chinese government wants them to in terms of sharing information or serving as a tool of the Chinese government. And so that’s plenty of reason by itself to be extremely concerned.”

A TikTok spokesperson stated: “As Director Wray specified in his remarks, the FBI’s input is being considered as part of our ongoing negotiations with the U.S. Government. While we can’t comment on the specifics of those confidential discussions, we are confident that we are on a path to fully satisfy all reasonable U.S. national security concerns.”

Former President Donald Trump in 2020 tried to dam new customers from downloading WeChat and TikTok and ban different transactions that may have successfully blocked the apps’ use within the United States however misplaced a sequence of court docket battles over the measure.

President Joe Biden in June 2021 withdrew a sequence of Trump govt orders that sought to ban new downloads of the apps and ordered the Commerce Department to conduct a evaluate of safety considerations posed by the apps.

Any safety settlement with TikTok is anticipated to incorporate information safety necessities.