TikTok is not your freedom of speech. It’s a Chinese developed and monitored platform that provides an insane amount of placement and access directly to any user’s information, including payment details, address, location, and your contacts. It also provides theoretical control over what you see and how often you see it. If you don’t see why that matters, that sucks. When you clicked through the terms of service at signup, you afforded ByteDance (the owners of TikTok) nearly unimpeded access to anything on your device. For some of you, that doesn’t mean much, for the bigger idiots out there working in National Security and Military roles, that means you’re compromising yourself and the people you work with. Yes, they DO want to know what the cooks are serving at the DFAC, or where we’re parking our jets on the aircraft carrier. They also care that Gamer number 3 has a name in his contacts that matches Government employee number 12 on their targets list. Something everyone should understand is that China’s government does not see public and private sector separation the same way the United States (generally) does. Even the United States gains itself access to things it deems necessary for National Security (which things, and how, are ultimately functions of the politicians we put in office…keep that in mind). The Chinese government actively uses inroads that it has developed into its software and hardware (see: Chinese transformers with built-in hardware back doors, certain software banned for use by the Government, etc) to monitor the United States in preparation for War. I said what I said, for War (as well as economic downfall, global power balance, and a litany of other things with war at its end roads). Russia also has a large and effective Cyber and IO capability that it uses to conduct espionage and propaganda for the purposes of gaining an advantage. Iran sucks at IO in the west but their Cyber is pretty good. It’s there. It’s real. We’re more connected and vulnerable than ever. The U.S. Government has absolutely zero reason to allow a Chinese looking glass into millions of people across the United States; their locations, their payment details, any of it. Sorry. Yes, the United States also has been provided access to American Social Media. Not a fan. However, I’m of the ever decreasing body of people that doesn’t believe the United States (my own Country) is my worst or at all my enemy. Be critical of it, certainly. I don’t like it when the Government has access to shit they don’t need, but it’s lower on the totem in threat to me than China. Those are not the same things. If Trump reinstates it like he said he would, it will be stupid unless that app and US web version has had a full Blue and Red Team assessment done on it, critical and highs (minimum) patched, and all user data is retained in the United States. Further, a full threat assessment of its source code needs to happen, not just the top level. Full stop. No exceptions. Some of the huge names in content creation will continue to talk about how much people should hate our own country, but ignore the very real external threat and in doing so condition people entirely to believe that China and Russia aren’t adversarial at best, enemies of the United States more appropriate. This isn’t an attack on them (they know who they are), it’s an ask for balance in discussing the things people should ALSO be concerned about even beyond this topic. One of the ONLY things I want the Federal Government to be doing is running screens on Foreign Intelligence Entities. I hope TikTok dies forever. Source: Cyber Counterintelligence Analyst, Cyber Threat Intelligence SME, and other positions in a 15 year Cyber career.