After Schumer, Cotton Concerns, OMI Asks US to Investigate TikTok Parent

The U.S. government should investigate TikTok’s parent ByteDance and its acquisition of Music.ly, Open Markets Institute said Thursday, citing national security threats. OMI responded to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., asking U.S. intelligence officials to investigate the Chinese company TikTok. More than 110 million Americans downloaded the app this past year, said Schumer and Cotton. “At best, TikTok is a direct source for the Chinese to harvest American user data; at worst, TikTok is an opportunity for the Chinese Communist Party to use algorithms to manipulate Americans to push an authoritarian agenda,” OMI wrote, asking the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to open a review. TikTok said it's not influenced or controlled by the Chinese government: "We remain committed to providing a safe and expressive app experience for our community."