How dangerous is tik tok?

The "Bill to Protect Americans from Internet Services Controlled by Foreign Powers" introduced on March 5 by the US-China Competition Committee of the US National Assembly is attracting more and more attention from Americans. The bill specifically emphasizes that ByteDance-controlled TikTok is a threat to US national security, and that any company in China is under the control of Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Communist Party of China.

At the "Global Threat Assessment Hearing" held on March 11, Senator Marco Rubio, Vice Chairman of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, asked FBI Director Christopher Wray about TikTok's threat to US national security. asked the questions. Christopher Wray emphasized that Tik-Tok is using various methods to infiltrate and influence the United States, while confirming that ByteDance, the owner of Tik-Tok, cannot refuse the demands of the Chinese Communist Party.

International Uyghur organizations, Uyghur human rights activists, and the majority of Uyghur expatriates are facing cross-border repression these days. What is the role of the Chinese-controlled TikTok app in this repression?

Dr. Abdurshukur Abdurreshit, one of the Uyghur network experts, an information technology expert of the Swiss National Telecom, gave an interview on this matter to our radio station and gave an explanation about Tik-Tok and the Chinese version of this app, "Dowin".

He also said that the Chinese government will somehow filter the information of users of "Dowin" or "Tik-Tok" and make it available for use by the Chinese government. 

Asma Mamtimin, a 20-year-old Uyghur youth born and raised in Germany, is one of the young Tik-tok users, and she shared with us her feelings about the pros and cons of Tik-tok. When young people use social media such as TikTok, he asks, "Are they using social media or is social media using them?" stressed that the issue should be used carefully.

At the end, Mr. Abdurshukur said, "I am in touch with the motherland" and reminded the points that Uighurs should pay attention to. He also gave advice to those who say they "use Douin at all", it is best not to use it, and if it is necessary to use it, how to reduce the risk or prevent their information from being stolen.

According to information about TikTok, TikTok is one of the video service apps owned by Byte Dance in mainland China, and its Chinese version is called Douyin. ByteDance Co., Ltd. is a Chinese Internet technology company founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming and Liang Rubo. Its headquarters are located in Beijing, the capital of China.