Is TikTok a national security time bomb?

+ why Fani Willis kept her job overseeing Georgia Trump case US Edition - Today's top story: Is TikTok's parent company an agent of the Chinese state? In China Inc., it's a little more complicated [View in browser]( US Edition | 18 March 2024 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Top headlines - [How airplanes stay in the air]( - [Why Biden and Trump won’t die in office]( - [Benefits of free school meals for all]( Lead story To its 170 million American users, TikTok is a fun place to share parodies, pranks or the latest dance craze. But in the U.S. Congress, many see the app as something more pernicious – to them, it’s a national security threat. Their concern is with TikTok’s parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance. Political hawks warn that, at least in theory, Chinese law could force ByteDance to give American users’ data to the Chinese government. TikTok denies all this. But as Shaomin Li, an expert on China, its political economy and business, explains, the [reality is a little more nuanced](. It may well be the case that Beijing officials are not overtly pulling the strings at ByteDance, but the company itself will still be under obligations to the Chinese Communist Party, he explains. “Regardless of whether ByteDance has formal ties with the party, there will be the tacit understanding that the management is working for two bosses: the investors of the company and, more importantly, their political overseers that represent the party,” Li writes. “But most importantly, when the interests of the two bosses conflict, the party trumps.” [ [Understand what’s going on in Washington and around the world. Get our Politics Weekly newsletter.]( ] Matt Williams Senior International Editor Some U.S. lawmakers have grown concerned about TikTok. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images. [Is TikTok’s parent company an agent of the Chinese state? 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