The head of the US NSA cybersecurity department called TikTok a Chinese “Trojan horse”

Rob Joyce, head of the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) cybersecurity division, said that the social network TikTok is a Chinese “Trojan horse” and poses a long-term strategic problem for the country’s cybersecurity. About it informed Bloomberg, citing Joyce.

“Why would you introduce this (introduce a “Trojan horse” – approx. Vedomosti) in the United States in an environment where the Chinese can manipulate data in order to either intentionally show something to our population – materials that cause controversy in society – and remove that which makes them look bad,” Joyce asked at the Silverado Accelerator conference in Napa, California.

According to the NSA’s cybersecurity chief, the US government should keep an eye on social network parent company ByteDance Ltd. to avoid a security incident “five, 10 or 20” years later, as opposed to an imminent “tactical” threat.

On March 23, TikTok CEO Chu Shou Tzu during a hearing in the Energy and Commerce Committee of the US House of Representatives declaredthat the company has never shared US user data with the Chinese government or received such requests. “And TikTok will not respond to such a request if it ever comes,” said Chu Show Tzu. The CEO also noted that the company has put in place more security measures than any of its Western competitors.

March 1 US House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a bill that gives the country’s president the right to impose a ban on TikTok in the country, as well as to impose a ban on the Chinese ByteDance, which owns the social network. On March 6, Democrat Mark Warner, chairman of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, announced that senators would introduce this bill.

In February, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called for a ban on the Chinese social network, which the union said violates the right to free speech. Democrat Gregory Meeks, chairman of the foreign affairs committee, also opposed the project. Such a law would “put more companies into China’s sphere of influence” as well as cut jobs in the country, the chairman said.

On March 16, officials in the UK were banned from using TikTok on their office phones due to the risk of the social network getting government data. According to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Oliver Dowden, limiting the use of the service is a “wise” step taken “on the advice of our cybersecurity experts.”