WSJ News Exclusive | Republicans Press Biden Officials for Answers on TikTok Security Concerns

In a letter to the secretaries of the Treasury, State, Defense and Commerce departments dated Monday, Rep.

Michael McCaul

(R., Texas) and Rep.

Mike Rogers

(R., Ala.) cite a recent Wall Street Journal article in seeking more information about internal administration deliberations around a national-security agreement being negotiated with TikTok.

Mr. McCaul is expected to become chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Mr. Rogers is expected to lead the Armed Services Committee when Republicans take control of the House next month.

U.S. officials have long been concerned that TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., would improperly share information on U.S. users with China’s authoritarian government. TikTok has long denied it would do so, but has been negotiating with U.S. security officials for more than a year on measures aimed at safeguarding user data. 

U.S. officials are also concerned about the potential for Beijing to manipulate TikTok’s recommendation algorithm to serve up propaganda or influence users more broadly. Some officials worry that it could also be used to access other software on users’ devices and compromise them.

The Journal reported this month that some administration officials have sought to make any TikTok security agreement tougher in some respects, in response to what they say are growing concerns over the app’s access to consumer data and its potential use for influence operations.

In their letter, Reps. McCaul and Rogers said “it would be unacceptable” for concerns of some officials to be ignored.

A TikTok spokeswoman has said the company is looking forward to a timely conclusion to its agreement, much of which it has started implementing already. 

The company had previously reached a tentative deal with the U.S. government this summer, but senior U.S. officials, including at the Justice Department, don’t believe that proposed agreement is adequate, the Journal has reported.

Some administration officials are now saying that the best solution would be for TikTok to divest from its U.S. operations so it would no longer be under Chinese ownership, according to people familiar with the matter. 

The Trump administration tried to do so but its efforts were blocked by court rulings.

The potential national-security deal between the Biden administration and TikTok—once expected around year-end—has run into delays amid the internal debates, which include discussions over how TikTok might share information related to the algorithm it uses to determine what videos to show users, and the level of trust Washington would need to place in the company.

Aruna Viswanatha contributed to this article.

Write to John D. McKinnon at [email protected]