ICYMI: Rep. Green Joins Fox News to Discuss the Threat of TikTok

In April, Rep. Green sent a letter to TikTok demanding to know what role CCP-linked engineers have in writing TikTok’s source code. TikTok’s response confirmed that Chinese software engineers are involved in writing the source code of the app, giving the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) a potential backdoor access to the data of Americans.  

In Case You Missed It, via America’s Newsroom on Fox News, Rep. Green explains why giving the CCP access to American data is dangerous. 

In reference to the letter Rep. Green received from TikTok, he said:

“...[TikTok’s] source code is coming from all over the world and some of it is coming from China. I mean, if it was definitely not coming from China, he would have absolutely said that. So, with the source code coming from China, it's very possible that backdoors could be written into the source code, which would allow them access to the data…”

On Chinese ownership of TikTok, Rep. Green stated:

 “…[W]e need to examine the source code… [to find] the vulnerability that allows [the CCP] access. But we know that they tried to hide the fact that ByteDance owned TikTok. They went through some elaborate subsidiary naming to hide that. 

We also know that the 2017 National Security Law in China says that any company in China has to share data, even if that data comes from outside of China. So, there is a mandate on ByteDance to give information to the CCP if they asked for it. So, I don't know why there wouldn't be a backdoor written into this.” 

When it comes to the threat the CCP poses to Americans’ data, Rep. Green said:

“And we know [the CCP] has been mining our data through multiple different platforms for decades. [The CCP is] population mapping. They hacked one of our biggest healthcare companies to get the health care data, [and] they hacked the U.S. military's personnel. …They were in that system for 18 months before we discovered them; they have my security and background check from the Army in China.”  

On why he sent a letter to TikTok CEO:

“The question that wasn't asked [at the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing] and the reason I sent the letter to the CEO: Where [does] the source code come from? Which if you have the source code, you have the backdoor. We know they hack stuff that we write in the United States, so there's no reason to think that they don't have a backdoor written into that code.”  

Rep. Green asked Americans to think about the future. 

“And so every young American, maybe 20-30 years from now, [if] they're running for office and the Chinese have a video from when they were a kid that maybe they did something they don't want out there now–that is something that the Chinese can use as influence.”

And here’s why this matters:

“It's all about population mapping and understanding how the population can be manipulated.” He went on to say that TikTok gives the CCP “information that they can use and it's an enemy that has shown its willing to do that.”  

You can watch the full interview here.