{"id":1779871,"date":"2022-12-19T06:03:06","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T11:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1779871"},"modified":"2022-12-19T08:33:29","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T13:33:29","slug":"cia-director-tiktok-app-genuinely-troubling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cia-director-tiktok-app-genuinely-troubling\/","title":{"rendered":"CIA Director: TikTok App &#8220;Genuinely Troubling&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcia-director-tiktok-app-genuinely-troubling%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1779871&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-william-burns\">William Burns<\/a>, the director of CIA, has warned about children being potentially harmed by spending time on TikTok and talked about the dangers posed by the app that is owned by a China-based company.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/show\/cia-director-bill-burns-on-war-in-ukraine-intelligence-challenges-posed-by-china\">interview<\/a> with PBS, Burns was asked about his recommendation to people regarding their kids\u2019 usage of TikTok.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d be really careful,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n<p>When asked if he would add anything more, Burns responded, \u201cNo, really careful.\u201d He said it was \u201cgenuinely troubling\u201d how the Chinese government is able to manipulate TikTok.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause the parent company of TikTok is a Chinese company, the Chinese government is able to insist upon extracting the private data of a lot of TikTok users in this country, and also to shape the content of what goes on to TikTok as well to suit the interests of the Chinese leadership. I think those are real challenges and a source of real concern,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent interview with Fox News, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) called for banning TikTok, arguing that the app exposes minors to \u201cviolent, depraved, degrading sexual material,\u201d and body image issues for young girls. This is the kind of stuff that Beijing would \u201cnever\u201d let Chinese teenagers watch. TikTok is also a risk to data security and privacy, he noted.<\/p>\n<p>Tiktok\u2019s algorithm is programmed in such a way that the app displays different content, and recommendations, for Americans compared to Chinese users.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, why in the world would we allow a Chinese-owned company, which has to answer to the Chinese Communists, to be one of the largest media platforms in our country?\u201d Cotton asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWould we ever have allowed Soviet Russia to own a major newspaper or a major broadcast network during the Cold War? Of course we wouldn\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cotton went on to criticize the Biden administration for \u201csending signals\u201d that it might tolerate the use of TikTok in the United States despite the \u201cgrave threats\u201d the app poses to the nation.<\/p>\n<h2>Teenage Self-Harm<\/h2>\n<p>Burns\u2019 warning about TikTok use comes as a new report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) found that the app is pushing self-harm and eating disorder content into children\u2019s feeds. Imran Ahmed, chief exec of CCDH, insisted that TikTok was designed to influence young users into giving up their time and attention.<\/p>\n<p>The app is \u201cpoisoning\u201d children\u2019s minds, promoting \u201chatred\u201d of their own bodies, and pushing suggestions of self-harm and potentially deadly attitudes towards food, he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/tiktok-poisoning-vulnerable-young-minds-by-promoting-eating-disorders-self-harm-and-suicide-report_4926705.html\">stated<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cParents will be shocked to learn the truth and will be furious that lawmakers are failing to protect young people from Big Tech billionaires, their unaccountable social media apps, and increasingly aggressive algorithms,\u201d Ahmed said.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Fox News that TikTok is an \u201cenormous threat.\u201d He also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/democrat-senator-concedes-trump-was-right-about-tiktok-parents-should-be-concerned_4875316.html\">admitted<\/a> that former President Donald Trump was \u201cright\u201d about the danger the app posed to America.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, if you\u2019re a parent, and you\u2019ve got a kid on TikTok, I would be very, very concerned. All of that data that your child is inputting and receiving is being stored somewhere in Beijing.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Lawsuits<\/h2>\n<p>The state of Indiana has filed two lawsuits against TikTok, blaming the social media app for falsely claiming it is safe for children and illicitly sending data of Americans to China.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/indiana-sues-tiktok-for-endangering-children-sending-data-to-china_4910197.html\">statement<\/a>, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita called TikTok a \u201cmalicious and menacing threat\u201d that the company knows will inflict harm on its users.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith this pair of lawsuits, we hope to force TikTok to stop its false, deceptive, and misleading practices, which violate Indiana law,\u201d Rokita said.<\/p>\n<p>Republican governors from states like Iowa, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, South Carolina, and Maryland have announced a ban on the use of TikTok by state agencies or on government devices due to security concerns.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-naveen-athrappully\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/NaveenAthrappully.jpg\" alt=\"Naveen Athrappully\"   style=\"display:none\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p>Naveen Athrappully is a news reporter covering business and world events at The Epoch Times.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>William Burns, the director of CIA, has warned about children being potentially harmed by spending time on TikTok and talked about the dangers posed by the app that is owned<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1695609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[10231,9244,5458,7362,6350,3819,6248,10232],"class_list":["post-1779871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-genuinely","tag-app","tag-bongino","tag-cia","tag-director","tag-report","tag-tiktok","tag-troubling"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1779871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1779871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1779871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1695609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1779871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1779871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1779871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}