Posted by teoct > 2020-08-06 09:09 | Report Abuse

As American Consequences executive editor Buck Sexton, a former CIA officer, wrote in a great analysis this morning...

So far, the issue is not any especially nefarious technology, it's the connection to a Chinese government that is increasingly seen around the world as authoritarian, untrustworthy, and aggressive.

That said, the espionage threat of the TikTok app may be overblown...

There is no special functionality that would make TikTok a better social-media platform than many others to send sensitive information. Anyone who wants to transfer America's commercial or defense secrets to their handlers back in Beijing could just as easily use WhatsApp or a similar encrypted communication platform.

And while there may be some ways to use mass data harvesting of Americans to gain a long-term strategic advantage, it's not clear how or why TikTok is a unique vulnerability. After all, the Chinese can hack into (and have hacked) much larger, more sensitive U.S. systems.