Federal law & 34 states have banned TikTok on government devices, so why are there still 86 million users in the USA? Prof. Nick Eftimiades discusses the US Federal device ban & the complex web of foreign intrigue that makes protecting American data a difficult endeavor.
US Dept. Homeland Data Security Advisory:
https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/20_1222_data-security-business-advisory.pdf
Nicholas Eftimiades is an American government official, author, and educator best known for his work Chinese Intelligence Operations (1994). Nick’s 34 year government career includes employment in the CIA as a Technical Operations Officer, a Special Agent in the US Department of State, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, and as a Senior Intelligence Officer in the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Nick was also a Senior Research Fellow at King’s College War Studies Department, London UK. He has an M.S. in Strategic Intelligence, National Defense Intelligence College; and a B.A. East Asian Studies, George Washington University. He currently works as an assistant teaching professor in the Penn State Homeland Security Program.
Tik Tok is currently one of the largest social media networks on the internet, with over 1 Billion users worldwide and 86.9 million users in the United States, and its parent company Bytedance is currently under investigation by the US Justice Department for "possible spying on US Citizens".
On December 30, 2022, President Joe Biden signed the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, prohibiting the use of the app on devices owned by the federal government, with some exceptions. As of April 2023, at least 34 states have announced or enacted bans on state government agencies, employees, and contractors using TikTok on government-issued devices. At the very least, this means that these concerns are being taken seriously enough to be codified in law,
The views & opinions expressed in this interview are those if Nick Eftiamideas alone, and do not represent the views of the United States Government, its representative agencies, or Penn State. Additionally, none of the views or opinions we'll be discussing today should be taken as insulting or disparaging Chinese culture, society, or individual people in any way. Our focus is entirely on well-known geopolitical rivalries in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Nick Eftimiades (Shinobi Enterprises)
https://www.shinobienterprises.com/
China Travel Security Briefing for Professionals (Online Course)
https://www.shinobienterprises.com/challenge-page/65f8cf71-a211-46a5-8891-35543f6d9e03
Chinese Intelligence: Operations and Tactics (Online Course)
https://www.shinobienterprises.com/copy-of-online-training
Restrictions on TikTok in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_TikTok_in_the_United_States
Justice Department investigating TikTok parent company ByteDance for possible spying on U.S. citizens
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiktok-bytedance-justice-department-investigation-spying/
The Billionaire Keeping TikTok on Phones in the U.S.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-billionaire-keeping-tiktok-on-phones-in-the-us/ar-AA1gYF3J
How TikTok Became a US-China National Security Issue
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-15/how-tiktok-became-a-us-china-national-security-issue?embedded-checkout=true
The All-American Myth of the TikTok Spy
https://www.wired.com/story/china-espionage-tiktok-spying-national-security/
Biden order bans investment in dozens of Chinese defense, tech firms
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/biden-order-ban-investment-59-chinese-defense-tech-firms-2021-06-03/
Exclusive: China operating over 100 police stations across the world with the help of some host nations, report claims
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/04/world/china-overseas-police-stations-intl-cmd/index.html