Good Thursday evening. This is Daniel Allott with The Hill's Top Opinions.
The ancient Greeks gave us some profound insights into human nature. They knew that people are easily duped and that almost anyone will open the door to just about anything so long as it's presented as a gift or free of charge.
When they built a massive wooden horse and placed it outside the enemy's gates at Troy, the unsuspecting Trojans brought the horse inside unexamined. Once the horse was inside, out jumped Greek men of war, who sacked the city.
Something similar is happening with the Chinese mobile video app TikTok, writes former Federal Communications official Adonis Hoffman.
By making the app free and easy to use and enwrapping it "in millions of comedic, cute and catchy little videos," Hoffman argues, "TikTok has slipped in deftly under our defenses and found a home behind America's security walls."
TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese private company. But even private companies in China are ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
Which means that when someone downloads the app on their smartphone, they give the Chinese government access to all their data.
Hoffman, who served as chief of staff and senior legal advisor at the FCC, writes: "This opens a treasure trove of data on millions of Americans for the Chinese government to use whenever and however they choose. And history shows they use that data for nefarious purposes."
What could China do? They could use the app as a propaganda or censorship tool, or blackmail users with their data, according to Hoffman.
So, what should be done to stop this from happening?
At the very least, Hoffman writes, the Federal Trade Commission, Congress and the Justice Department should continue to scrutinize TikTok's practices, especially during the election season. America's national security may be at stake.
And Americans should think twice about downloading the app, because, he writes, "In America's simple, silly and sublime desire for endless entertainment, we are literally dancing with the enemy."
Read Hoffman's op-ed here.
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