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One Quick Question: Tik Tok got an 11th-hour reprieve. But is it a security threat?

With Computer Science's Erik Fretheim

Tik Tok has been issued an 11th-hour reprieve by President Trump, who has pledged to save the platform. What about Tik Tok resulted in its near ban, and is it really a national security threat? Today's One Quick Question, a semi-regular feature which engages WWU faculty on topics on national or regional interest, was fielded by Computer Science's Erik Fretheim, director of Western's cybersecurity program.

What is it about Tik Tok that makes it a threat to national security?

"TikTok poses threats to US national security and to individual security in a variety of ways.   First, TikTok has been and continues to be used in an extensive manner to influence public opinion.  This has been shown to be done through censorship, as with Tiananmen Square and the Uighurs, as well as flooding the app with postings of views favorable to China’s aims," said Fretheim.   

"Second, the Chinese have a long history of collecting, collating and using information about individuals to their advantage.  They have in the past used this to coerce people into spying for them, and to creating disordered situations.  

Third, TikTok is used to collect information which while it may seem innocuous individually, when combined provides the ability to attack individuals financially and in other ways.   For example, most people have clues to their passwords on their social media.  This combined with information about where they do business, and their schedule can be used to create a cyber attack which cleans out a bank account, or investments, without the user being aware.   

While many of these risks exist with non-Chinese apps, with TikTok, there are not only financial, but ideological incentives to abuse."