TikTok App is “Fundamentally Parasitic,” According to Tech Experts

• Owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance, tech experts are claiming TikTok actually poses a security threat for users.
• Reddit CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman even called the app as a “spyware.”
• Meanwhile, US Senator Josh Hawley has proposed that all federal employees in the country should not use the app because it steals and sends user data to China.

With the ever-increasing number of users downloading TikTok on their mobile devices, several tech experts are warning the public about the possible dangers that come with it. Steve Huffman, co-founder and CEO of Reddit has openly spoken his problems about the popular app.   

During the Social 2030 conference, Huffman said that he considers TikTok as “fundamentally parasitic” for many reasons. “It’s always listening, the fingerprinting technology they use is truly terrifying,” he pointed out.

“I actively tell people, ‘Don’t install that spyware on your phone,’” Huffman went on to say.

Aside from Huffman, Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, has likewise admitted concerns about the video-sharing service by ByteDance, a company based in Beijing.

As Sandberg emphasized, the app maker is “a Chinese company, if people are concerned about data I think there’s a lot to be concerned about there.”

Even United States Senator Josh Hawley has repeatedly expressed his worries about TikTok citing its owners ties to the Chinese government. The Republican politician has gone as far as proposing that all government workers should never use the app at all.

During a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing, Hawley explained:

“TikTok is scooping up immense amounts of data and they are sharing it with Beijing; they are required to… For federal employees it really is a no-brainer. It’s a major security risk… Do we really want Beijing having geo-location data of all federal employees? Do we really want them having their keystrokes?”

Watch the video here:

Meanwhile, here’s another informative video about why TikTok is a possible national security threat: