TikTok faces growing national security concerns

MIAMI – As more and more users download the seemingly addictive video-sharing app TikTok, concerns are growing about how safe it really is.

Some experts believe people could be compromising national security for the sake of social media.

Several states are cracking down on TikTok at the government level for fear it may be a Trojan Horse, so to speak, for China to gain access to information.

Jake Baroncini, who is from Miami, says he has not made any videos himself, but still likes to scroll.

“I’m a little bit more of a casual user,” he says. “I haven’t used it as much recently because of the headlines making the news. When I go on there, I usually have friends or family  sending me videos, or I watch cooking tutorials or the dances people are coming up with.”

The platform has more than a billion monthly users worldwide.

Critics say TikTok may know too much.

“Your email address, your phone number, what Wi-Fi network you connect with,” says Thomas Germain, a reporter for tech site Gizmodo.

“They’re looking through all of my contacts to see whether those people are on TikTok,” Germain says, “And the interesting thing there is my friends didn’t consent to having their phone numbers and emails uploaded in TikTok.”

While other apps collect data as well, TikTok is owned by a Chinese parent company called Byte Dance.

“The question is for the national security professionals: do we want China determining what it is that we see here in America?” says John Carlin, who ran National Security at the Justice Department.

TikTok’s VP of Public Policy, Michael Beckerman, says the worry is overstated and that the app collects less data than other forms of social media.

“I think it makes for good politics,” he says.

The military, along with seven states, now prohibit TikTok’s use on official government. Those states are Maryland, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Alabama, and Nebraska.

“For a government device specifically, that makes more sense,” says Baroncini. “But, for regular consumers, I feel like they should put more information out there so people know what they’re giving away, what it could be used for, the dangers of it, but it should definitely be left up to the people to make that choice for themselves.”

CBS 4 reached out to Governor Ron DeSantis’s office to see if a similar ban would be considered for Florida. They have not responded yet.

The Biden Administration is looking into TikTok’s plan to relocate its data to the U.S., and out of China’s reach, as part of a years-long security review.