China could use the social media app TikTok to influence the 2024 US election, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haynes said during a House Intelligence Committee hearing. During the hearing in the House of Representatives, FBI Director Christopher Wray also spoke, repeating his assessment that TikTok poses a threat to American national security.
Asked by Democratic Party representative Raja Krishnamurthy whether the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would use TikTok to influence the election, Haynes replied: "We can't rule out that the CCP will use it."
Lawmakers have long raised concerns that the Chinese government could gain access to user data or influence what people see on the app, including pushing content that incites political discord in the US.
Krishnamurthy is the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on China. Last week, he and the Republican chairman of that committee, Mike Gallagher, introduced a bill that would give TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance about six months to divest itself of the short video app used by 170 million Americans.
The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote today under accelerated voting rules that require a two-thirds yes vote for the measure to pass.
TikTok, which says it has not and will not share data about American users with the Chinese government, argues that the House bill amounts to a ban.
Last week, President Joe Biden said he would sign the bill, but the bill is popular and getting the legislation passed by the House and Senate in an election year could prove difficult.
It is unclear whether China will approve any sale or whether TikTok used in the US can be sold within six months.
The US intelligence community's 2024 annual threat assessment, released on March 11, said TikTok accounts run by the Chinese government's propaganda branch reportedly targeted candidates from both political parties during the US midterm election cycle in 2022. /BGNES
