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Sunday 9 August 2020 - 11:47

CIA: 'No Evidence' Showing China Has Intercepted Data from TikTok

Story Code : 879226
CIA:
According to The New York Times, CIA analysts told the White House that, though it is possible for Chinese officials to obtain data from users of the app, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, there is "no evidence" that China has done so.

The CIA assessment is the latest development in a long series of efforts made by American officials to distance Chinese tech firms from US users over national security concerns, CGTN reported.

TikTok will file a federal lawsuit as soon as Tuesday, challenging the US president's executive order banning the video-sharing app in the United States.

Last week,‌ US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has unveiled a US plan to crack down on Chinese apps and services. Dubbed the "Clean Network," the program would block "untrusted" Chinese apps from app stores.

However, experts have found that TikTok collects data in a similar manner to US firms such as Facebook.

Looking away from the assessment from his own intelligence community, President Trump still moved forward with an executive order late Thursday barring US companies from "any transactions" with ByteDance.

The order argues TikTok "continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States" and will go into effect on September 20.
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