House Republicans say TikTok made misleading claims in data handling briefings | CNN Business

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House Republicans say TikTok may have misled congressional staffers in private briefings about the company’s handling of US user data, in a new letter to the short-form video app this week

The letter, dated Tuesday and addressed to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, reflects the latest escalation by US lawmakers as they study TikTok’s potential impact on national security. And it foreshadows how House Republicans, after securing a majority in the 2022 midterm elections, are likely to approach TikTok in the coming months.

In bipartisan briefings to discuss the company’s privacy practices, TikTok officials stated that the app only collects personal information when users are actively using it, and that China-based employees do not have access to specific geolocation data of TikTok users in the United States, according to the letter from Reps. James Comer and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the respective ranking members of the House Oversight and Energy and Commerce committees.

But public reports from Consumer Reports and Forbes appear to contradict those statements, the letter continued.

“Both claims appear to be misleading at best and false at worst,” wrote Comer and McMorris Rodgers.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tuesday’s letter asks TikTok to preserve a wide range of documents, communications and other records, in a preview of how House lawmakers could investigate the company in the coming months.

It also called on TikTok to produce “all drafts and iterations” of any potential national security agreement the company may be developing with the US government. And he reiterated half a dozen other requests for information that Republican lawmakers had sent to the company over the summer.

Lawmakers asked TikTok to respond by Dec. 6.

“Americans deserve answers about how TikTok is allowing China to access their data, and E&C Republicans will continue to demand those answers,” said Sean Kelly, spokesman for McMorris Rodgers. “The immediate next step is to pass the American Data Protection and Privacy Act in this Congress, which would require companies like TikTok to notify users if their personal information is stored or accessed in countries like China, and would give people the option to stop that information from being shared.”

Copies of the letter were also sent to the committee’s Democratic chairs, but those lawmakers, Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Frank Pallone, did not sign the letter. Spokespeople for Maloney and Pallone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. officials have expressed bipartisan alarm over TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, which critics say could compel Chinese authorities to hand over data relating to U.S. citizens or act as a conduit for money laundering operations. ‘malign influence.

Over the weekend, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, told Fox News on Sunday that he believes “TikTok is a huge threat” because of potential data security risks, as well as the possibility that China could exercise its influence over ByteDance to control what US users see. Tik Tok

“This is a distribution model that would make RT or Sputnik or some of the Russian propaganda models pale in comparison,” Warner said.

Echoing those concerns last week, FBI Director Christopher Wray hinted that China might even try to use TikTok as a covert tool for hacking, telling lawmakers that the FBI fears that China could misuse TikTok to “technically compromise” and “control the software on millions of devices.” .”

TikTok has acknowledged that US user data is accessible to China-based employees, but has refused to cut off those data flows, saying it is confident its talks with the US government will lead to an agreement that “satisfies all national security concerns.”

Earlier this month, TikTok updated its privacy policy for European users, making it clear that employees worldwide can access their personal information, including from China.