Years after former President Donald Trump raised national security issues over the social media app TikTok, which is uniquely popular among younger users, the FBI now admits the app operates on behalf of the Chinese government, which "doesn’t share our [American] values."
FBI Director Christopher Wray warned on Friday that Chinese officials have the ability to control TikTok’s recommendation algorithm "which allows them to manipulate content, and if they want to, to use it for influence operations."
Wray made the comments during a speech at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, where he also said the app collects user data that the Chinese government could then access and use for traditional espionage operations.