Asked by Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi if
China's ruling Communist Party (CCP) would use TikTok to
influence the elections, Haines said: "We cannot rule out that
the CCP would use it."
Krishnamoorthi is also the ranking Democrat on the House select
committee on China. He and that panel's Republican chair Mike
Gallagher last week introduced a bill that would give TikTok's
Chinese owner ByteDance about six months to divest the short
video app used by 170 million Americans.
The House is due to vote on Wednesday under fast-track rules
that require two-thirds of members to vote "yes" for the measure
to win passage.
President Joe Biden said last week he would sign the bill, but
the app is popular and getting legislation approved by both the
House and Senate in an election year may be difficult.
The 2024 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence
Community released on Monday said TikTok accounts run by a
Chinese government propaganda arm reportedly targeted candidates
from both political parties during the U.S. midterm election
cycle in 2022.
Lawmakers have long voiced concerns that the Chinese government
could access user data or influence what people see on the app,
including pushing content to stoke U.S. political divisions.
TikTok, which says it has not and would not share U.S. user data
with the Chinese government, argues the House bill amounts to a
ban. It was unclear if China would approve any sale or if TikTok
could be divested in six months.
Also speaking at the House hearing, FBI Director Christopher
Wray repeated his assessment that TikTok posed national security
threats.
"Americans need to ask themselves whether they want to give the
Chinese government the ability to control access to their data,"
Wray said, adding that it could ultimately "compromise their
devices."
(Reporting by Michael Martina and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by
David Gregorio)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](column_spacer.png)
|
|