US NSA says TikTok ban could take away espionage tools from China.
US National Security Advisor, Robert O’Brien believes that major countries like the US, India, European countries, if come together and ban Chinese apps like TikTok, then China will have lesser espionage tools.
US National Security Advisor (NSA) Robert O’Brien on Tuesday said China will lose “a big tool” of espionage and surveillance if America and some western European countries ban Chinese apps like TikTok as done by India.
Last month, after a border tussle with China, India banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok and UC Browser, to protect the sovereignty, integrity, and security of the country.
Banning TikTok means stopping China’s espionage work says, O’Brien:
In an interview with Fox News Radio, O’Brien revealed that the Trump administration is “very seriously taking a look” at Chinese apps such as TikTok, WeChat, and others. O’Brien said,” India has already banned those apps, as you know. And if they lose India and the United States, they lose some western European countries that take a big tool away from the espionage work or the surveillance work of the Chinese Communist Party.”
China is snooping on the world with its various applications:
O’Brien lamented on the snooping of these apps and said,” TikTok is getting facial recognition on you; they are getting all your personal, private data, your most intimate data. They are getting to know who your friends are, who your parents are. They can map all your relationships. So, China is going to know everything about you.” O’Brien also revealed that China hacked into Marriot and has stolen personal data from millions of people, including their passport numbers.
The US is urging European countries to pressurize China:
These remarks come amid growing tensions in bilateral ties with Beijing on many issues, including the outbreak of the novel COVID-19 virus. After banning Huawei from the 56 networks, the US is urging other western and European countries to do the same to pressurize China.
