courtesy:https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-china-tech-rivalry-resurfaced-after-washingtons-attempt-to-ban-tiktok/3168711

In a court filing late Friday, the Justice Department warned that letting TikTok’s parent corporation run it might allow the Chinese government to surreptitiously influence US elections.

In a federal appeals court petition, prosecutors worried that TikTok’s algorithm may be used for “secret manipulation” to “influence the views of Americans for its own purposes.”

Among other things, it would allow a foreign authority to illicitly meddle with our political system and debate, including elections, prosecutors noted. The lawsuit said, “If, for example, the Chinese government were to determine that the outcome of a particular American election was sufficiently important to Chinese interests,”

Prosecutors noted that allowing the Chinese government to use TikTok effectively at a critical time threatens national security.

The filing follows TikTok’s May federal lawsuit against the US government to thwart a law that may prohibit the app nationally. In April, President Joe Biden approved a measure requiring TikTok to find a new owner by mid-January 2025 or be banned from the US.

The federal government responded to the case on Friday for the first time. The judicial battle may determine whether US security worries about TikTok’s ties to China can trump its 170 million US users’ First Amendment rights.

TikTok and Bytedance claim in their complaint that US legislation violates free speech rights and inhibits Americans from receiving legal information.

In the case, TikTok attorneys argued, “For the first time in history,” Congress has created legislation that condemns a single, named speech platform to a permanent, countrywide prohibition and prevents every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion individuals globally.

The lawsuit follows years of US allegations that TikTok’s ties to China could disclose Americans’ personal data to China.

The Justice Department claims TikTok violates the First Amendment. “The statute is aimed at national-security concerns unique to TikTok’s connection to a hostile foreign power, not at any suppression of protected speech,” the DOJ petition states. ByteDance might sell TikTok to an American affiliate and run it in the US without interruption.

In response to the lawsuit, senior justice officials said the Justice Department is concerned about the PRC’s efforts to “weaponize technology,” such as apps and software for US phones.

One diplomat said such worries are “compounded when those autocratic nations require and force, as the PRC does, companies under their control to turn over sensitive data to the Chinese government in secret.”

Some department officials have warned about the video app’s security hazards, but not in this complaint.

Last year, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco cautioned that “any company doing business in China for that matter, is subject to Chinese national security laws, which require turning over data to the state, and there is a reason we need to be very concerned.”

Monaco stated, “I don’t use TikTok, and I would not advise anyone to do so.”

DOJ filing: “TikTok application collects vast swaths of sensitive data from its 170 million U.S. users. “That collection includes data on users’ precise locations, viewing habits, private messages, and even phone contacts who do not use TikTok.”

TikTok is collecting data on teens who could become “family members or potential future government employees,” prosecutors stated.

The Friday complaint shows that law enforcement believes TikTok has taken Chinese government orders.

According to prosecutors, TikTok’s proprietary algorithm “can be manually manipulated, and its location in China would permit the Chinese government to covertly control the algorithm — and thus secretly shape the content that American users receive — for its own malign purposes.”

One method employed in China allows TikTok to restrict material, according to law enforcement. Despite the fact that the tool has not been utilized in the US, department officials raised concerns about whether it may gather, restrict, or boost content for American users.

Senior executives worried about staff collecting bulk data from user material on gun control, abortion, and religion.