By D. Maan, Jadetimes News
Justice Department Raises Alarms on Possible Election Influence of TikTok Amid Lawsuit
The Justice Department warned that if TikTok is allowed to continue to exist under its current parent company, it could enable the Chinese government to secretly influence the elections in the United States. According to prosecutors in a court filing on Friday, the algorithm of TikTok could be used for a "secret manipulation" campaign, with an ultimate goal of swaying American public opinion for its own purposes.
The filing, to the federal appeals court, indicated that the algorithm may allow a foreign government to interfere with the political process in the United States, including elections. Prosecutors have argued that this poses an unacceptable risk to national security, particularly in a situation where the Chinese government happens to regard an American election as fundamental to its interests.
The filing is a response to the lawsuit TikTok took to court in May against the US government to block a law that may force a US wide app ban. A new law, signed in by President Joe Biden in April, ordered TikTok to find a new owner by mid January 2025 or face a ban in the United States.
The filing is the first public response to the lawsuit by the federal government, which will determine whether the national security concerns over TikTok's links with China outweigh the First Amendment rights of its 170 million users in the United States. The filing rebuffed the law, claiming that it "violates the freedom of speech and serves as a prior restraint on speech." TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, hit back at the law, saying it "violates the freedom of speech and serves as a prior restraint on speech.". They said it would be the first time Congress had passed legislation specifically banning one platform permanently across the country.
The Justice Department has accused TikTok of misapplying the First Amendment, saying that the statute deals with national security concerns particular to TikTok's connection to China and not the suppression of protected speech. However, the filing says ByteDance might sell TikTok to an American affiliate and have the app keep on trucking without a hiccup in the U.S.
Top Justice Officials Concerned About Chinese Government Weaponizing Technology Abroad: Apps, Software U.S. officials say senior justice officials warned that the Chinese government may be trying to use technology such as apps and software used in the United States "as a weapon" and force companies to secretly turn over reams of data to the government, which could compound security risks.
Earlier, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco had warned against using TikTok due to Chinese national security laws that require data sharing with the state. She said not to use it; what is needed is being very careful.
The Justice Department filing said that TikTok taps vast amounts of sensitive data from its U.S. users, including identifying exact locations, viewing habits, private messages, and contact information of non users. Some of the people being monitored are teenagers who might someday work for the government or be family members of government workers.
It also detailed concerns that TikTok could take direction from the Chinese government. The filing said TikTok's proprietary algorithm can be manually manipulated meaning the Chinese government could actually wrest control of the algorithm to shape what American users see in order to suit its own ends. In this regard, law enforcement officials have raised alarm that a tool used in China, which is capable of repressing specific content on the app, already makes people afraid that similar technology could be taken to the United States.
Senior officials also expressed concerns about the ability of TikTok employees to collect information on the basis of what users have discussed on sensitive topics such as gun control, abortion, and religion. Precisely, the filing has made it clear that the current ownership and operations of TikTok pose some serious national security threats and called for immediate measures to avert them.
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