TikTok Risks US Elections, Prosecutors: Allows Chinese Government to Interfere with Algorithms
Allowing TikTok to continue to be operated by its current parent company could allow the Chinese government to covertly influence US elections, the Justice Department said in a court filing late Friday.
Prosecutors raised concerns that TikTok’s algorithm could be used in a “covert manipulation” campaign to “influence the views of Americans for its own purposes.”
“Among other things, it would allow a foreign government to unlawfully interfere in our political system and political discourse, including our elections,” prosecutors wrote.
The document added, “if, for example, the Chinese government were to determine that the outcome of a particular US election is sufficiently important to Chinese interests.”
“Allowing the Chinese government to stand ready to use TikTok to maximum effectiveness at a moment of extreme importance poses an unacceptable threat to national security,” prosecutors wrote.
The statement is in response to a federal lawsuit TikTok filed against the US government in May in an attempt to block a law that could force a nationwide ban on the app.
That law, which President Joe Biden signed into law in April, says TikTok must find a new owner by mid-January 2025 or be banned outright from the United States.
Friday’s filing marks the first time the federal government has responded to the lawsuit.
The legal battle could determine whether US security concerns about TikTok’s ties to China can override the First Amendment rights of TikTok’s 170 million US users.
In their lawsuit, TikTok and Bytedance say the US law is unconstitutional because it violates free speech rights and prevents Americans from accessing legitimate information.
