TikTok Use by US Military Poses Security Risk, Regulator Testifies
US military members are risking national security with their use of the TikTok social-media service, according to a federal communications regulator who has been pushing for the video-sharing app to be removed from online stores.
Several military branches bar TikTok from official devices, but there’s “pervasive use on personal devices, so I think that’s a challenge we need to address,” Brendan Carr, a Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, told a House panel Wednesday.
“We’re very concerned about that data flow back to Beijing,” Carr said. “With TikTok, this is a device right in your pocket. It’s going inside of the military installations. You’re looking at location data, which can give people information about troop movements.”
Carr testified at a House hearing on protecting service members and veterans from fraud and financial scams. The session was held by the National Security subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
“We cannot have a conversation about veteran scams without talking about the information theft that is occurring on foreign-owned apps like TikTok,” said Representative Glenn Grothman, a Wisconsin Republican.
TikTok has been questioned by US officials over whether private data on Americans may have been handed over to the authoritarian regime in China. In a letter last month, Carr asked Apple Inc. and Google to remove the popular video app from their stores. During Wednesday’s hearing, Carr said he was waiting for Apple’s response. A person familiar with the matter said Google has responded.
TikTok, owned by ByteDance Ltd., said in a June 30 letter that certain China-based employees can access information from US users, but denied information goes to the Chinese
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