Top senators claim TikTok is a risk to national security

Senators Mark Warner and Marco Rubio warn of the dangers of TikTok, a Chinese-owned social media app, due to concerns about government access and manipulation.

The top two senators on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner and Marco Rubio, issued a warning on Sunday over the dangers of TikTok. This Chinese-owned social media app has gained enormous traction among American youth.

U.S. authorities have been criticizing the video-sharing app for years because of concerns that China's government would access its data and use it to snoop on or manipulate Americans. However, a fresh campaign against TikTok has gained traction on Capitol Hill in recent days, as evidenced by a House bill that would force the corporation to remove the app from U.S. app stores or sell it.

Warner pointed out that TikTok poses a severe threat and may be the most potent propaganda tool ever because a significant number of American youth use the app as a news source and because the data it collects could be accessible to the Chinese Communist Party. 

The algorithm at the heart of TikTok is owned by the company ByteDance, where it must remain per Chinese law, according to Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio. No matter where the corporation is situated, he argues, engineers in China will always have access to the data since the algorithm depends on it.