Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, chairman of the United States Senate Intelligence Committee, stated former President Trump was correct in his assessment of the security concerns posed by the Chinese-owned app, TikTok.
Trump Right About TikTok and WeChat
Warner informed The Sydney Morning Herald, “Trump was correct on TikTok years ago. The latter is not something that you’d ordinarily hear me say.”
“The ability for China to have disproportionate influence is a lot greater challenge and a much more urgent threat than any type of genuine, armed confrontation,” says the author.
“If your nation utilizes Huawei, if your children use TikTok, and if your civilians use WeChat as a social networking platform, China’s potential to exert undue influence is a far larger concern.”
“It is a much more urgent threat than any actual physical confrontation,” says Sen. Mark Warner.
Warner, who is presently in Australia to meet with Australian security chiefs, legislators, and businesspeople and entrepreneurs, cautioned the Chinese regime’s technological dominance over other nations is frightening.
“This is not something you would normally hear me say, but Donald Trump was right on TikTok years ago,” – Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), i.e. Autry was right about#DeleteTikTokhttps://t.co/jdgCzE00AI
— Greg Autry🚀🇺🇸🇹🇼 (@GregWAutry) October 26, 2022
China’s technological dominance in several nations should terrify us, he added.
Not only the United States is worried about TikTok. Clare O’Neil, Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs, urged cybersecurity authorities to probe the data gathering security of a giant social media company.
O’Neil urged Australians who are using TikTok to be wary of the app’s data harvesting practices.
“I’d suggest to Australians: if you are using TikTok, consider whatever data of yours might be captured. Understand that we’re not necessarily 100 percent certain of how that information is being used,” O’Neil stated on a Sept. 5 ABC television show.
In this electronic era, it is necessary to take safeguards.
Social Media is Now a Threat
WE ARE SOCIAL’s Digital 2022 study indicates the international version of TikTok has 7.38 million active adults users in Australia, ranking it second only to Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram.
The decision comes following TikTok Australia revealed in July that its Chinese employees had access to the data of Australian customers.
Brent Thomas, the Australian director of public policy for TikTok, responded to James Paterson, the shadow minister for cybersecurity and countering foreign interference, by writing the following:
“Our security personnel restrict the number of individuals who are privy to data and confine it to only those who really need the access to do their jobs.”
Dem Sen. Warner admits Trump was right about TikTok | Just The News https://t.co/sjFOs3Uxzm
— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) October 26, 2022
Our policies and processes limit our workers’ internal access to Australian user information, regardless of their location, depending on the necessity.
Trump tried to shut down the social media platforms TikTok and WeChat in 2020, alleging security dangers posed by their ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Trump’s executive moves centered on ByteDance, a Beijing-based company that owns TikTok, and Tencent Holdings, which controls WeChat. They were barred by orders from a federal judge.
This article appeared in Conservative Cardinal and has been published here with permission.
