Senators call on FTC Chair Khan to investigate TikTok’s data security practices

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Senate Intelligence leaders want the Federal Trade Commission to investigate TikTok after it was reported that the company shared US data with Chinese workers.

The FTC should investigate TikTok's data security practices, according to the Senate Intelligence Committee leaders. According to a June report, ByteDance engineers had access to TikTok's US data as early as January 2022.

In light of repeated misrepresentations by TikTok, we urge you to act quickly on this matter.

There has been a new wave of regulatory skepticism against TikTok. Brendan Carr, a Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, requested that Apple and Google remove TikTok from their app stores. A bipartisan group of senators wrote to the CEO of TikTok asking about the app's data security practices.

On Friday, Chew confirmed that China-based employees were able to access US user data. New advanced data security controls that we hope to finalize in the near future are being implemented by TikTok, according to Chew.

The Chinese government has been accused of using TikTok's user data to track and surveil Americans. The latest letter from Chew has prompted more criticism.

Warner said, "For years, TikTok has assured lawmakers that user data and business operations were protected from the People's Republic of China." Major communications apps are subject to authoritarian government requests.

The senator called for TikTok to testify in the wake of recent reports.

"TikTok's response confirms that our fears about the influence of theCCP within the company are correct." They should have come clean from the beginning, but they kept their work a secret. Communist China has information about Americans on TikTok. It's time for TikTok to testify before Congress.