At last, the FBI finally gets a clue.
One can only hope that it isn’t too little, too late.
Based on recent testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray, the FBI has apparently decided to do something better with its time, rather than design a million ways to cover up Hunter Biden’s laptop.
As well as better things to do than raid Trump’s private residence, especially considering that Trump was clearly spot on about several national security concerns.
Specifically, Trump signed off on an executive order that banned TikTok, along with WeChat (i.e., Chinese Facebook), in 2020, recognizing the clear and present danger that both apps posed to the United States and its citizens.
Biden, however, decided it would apparently be a great idea to reverse Trump’s ban, permitting Beijing’s influence to insidiously proliferate across hundreds of millions of phones in the allegedly free world.
The Biden administration has gone as far as to collude with TikTok “stars,” further empowering the Beijing-owned platform.
And, needless to say, Beijing has substantial access to countless Americans, which Mr. Wray has apparently finally recognized as a legitimate threat.
“We do have national security concerns – at least from the FBI’s end – about TikTok,” Wray declared.
It’s about time. Shame the FBI couldn’t time those concerns with Trump in 2020.
Wray continued to prattle on about all the concerns that had already been raised by the Trump administration.
“They include the possibility that the Chinese government could use it to control data collection on millions of users. Or control the recommendation algorithm, which could be used for influence operations if they so choose. Or to control software on millions of devices, which gives it opportunity to potentially, technically compromise personal devices,” Wray remarked.
You don’t say. That’s precisely why the US military has banned its personnel from using TikTok on their phones, given how acute the risks are.
“[Chinese companies] do whatever the Chinese government wants them to in terms of sharing information or serving as a tool of the Chinese government. And so that’s plenty of reason by itself to be extremely concerned,” Wray added.
Precisely. And since it is impossible to make Beijing adhere to the scant data protection laws the United States does have, it’s quite clear that Chinese-owned apps should be banned entirely.
Brendan Carr, FCC Commissioner, is quite forthright in this assessment.
“At this point I have a very, very difficult time looking at TikTok’s conduct thinking we’re going to cut a technical construct that they’re not going to find a way around,” Carr remarked.
Carr noted that a ban of TikTok is a natural corollary to bans of Huawei and other Chinese companies for information and communications technology infrastructure, as virtually all Chinese firms can serve as spy apparatuses for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“For me, this is taking what I’ve learned in the Huawei, ZTE, China Mobile context, where we’re looking at possibly nefarious data flows, and bringing it to bear in terms of this issue,” Carr said pointedly.
Disturbingly, the CCP apparently feels emboldened to publicly slap down Carr, as if they have more authority than he does in the United States.
In a statement to the predictably selected CNN, a TikTok spokesperson insisted that Carr should have no influence in the federal government’s decisions regarding TikTok.
“Commissioner Carr has no role in or direct knowledge of the confidential discussions with the US government related to TikTok and is not in a position to discuss what those negotiations entail. We are confident that we are on a path to reaching an agreement with the US government that will satisfy all reasonable national security concerns,” the spokesperson sneered.
They’re clearly quite “confident” with Biden in the White House, that’s for sure.
And one can only hope that someone with sense in the administration will stop the widespread surveillance and interference from a communist nation as soon as possible.
Author: Ofelia Thornton
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