US piles pressure on TikTok ahead of vote on Chinese media firm
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China could use social media app TikTok to influence the 2024 US elections, the US director of national intelligence Avril Haines has told a House of Representatives intelligence committee hearing.
Asked by Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi if China's ruling Communist Party (CCP) would use TikTok to influence the elections, Ms Haines said: "We cannot rule out that the CCP would use it."
Mr 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.
Ireland has a particular stake in the US hardening its stance on TikTok because the media giant has a large global office based in Dublin.
The reported last month that some Irish staff would be laid off as part of global restructuring plans at the firm. "We are undertaking a redesign of its Training and Quality team that will enable us to further enhance our quality assurance processes," a spokesperson for TikTok told the in February.
"Ireland remains a hugely important base for us, and we're continuing to hire for roles across our business here," the spokesperson said.
The Chinese video-sharing platform — which established itself in Ireland in 2020 — has been heavily backed by the IDA, with the Government agency celebrating the company’s presence here as a “success story”.
The 2024 Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community released this week said TikTok accounts run by a Chinese government propaganda arm reportedly targeted candidates from both political parties during the US mid-term election cycle in 2022.
US 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 US political divisions.
TikTok, which says it has not and would not share US 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," Mr Wray said, adding that it could ultimately "compromise their devices".