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☆ TikTok could be a valuable tool for China if it invades Taiwan, FBI director says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —The Chinese government could use TikTok to control data on millions of people and harness the short-form video app to shape public opinion should China invade Taiwan, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Intelligence Committee Wednesday. Wray responded affirmatively to questions from Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the panel’s ranking member, on whether TikTok would allow Beijing widespread control over data and a valuable influence tool in the event of war in the Taiwan Strait. Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate panel, argued that TikTok presents “a substantial national security threat for the country of a kind that we didn’t face in the past.”Wray’s comments come a day after Gen. Paul Nakasone, head of the US National Security Agency, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he worried TikTok could censor videos to shape public opinion in a way that threatens US national security interests. The company is also negotiating a possible agreement with the Biden administration that could allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States under certain conditions. In a statement this week, a TikTok spokesperson said a US government ban would stifle American speech and would be “a ban on the export of American culture and values to the billion-plus people who use our service worldwide.”– CNN’s Brian Fung and Catherine Thorbecke contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - China will maintain its cooperation with Russia to continue trying to challenge the United States despite international concerns about the invasion of Ukraine, U.S. intelligence agencies said on Wednesday. "Despite global backlash over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China will maintain its diplomatic, defense, economic, and technology cooperation with Russia to continue trying to challenge the United States, even as it will limit public support," they said in a report released as the Senate Intelligence Committee held its annual hearing on worldwide threats to U.S. security. "The next few years are critical as strategic competition with China and Russia intensifies in particular how the world will evolve, and whether the rise of authoritarianism can be checked and reversed," Haines added. Haines described "a grinding, attritional war" in Ukraine and said U.S. intelligence does not foresee the Russian military recovering enough this year to make major territorial gains. Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Jonathan Landay, Michael Martina; Editing by Doina Chiacu;Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Google, Meta, and Snap would be the biggest winners if TikTok is banned, with shares set to rise on billions in new ad revenue, CFRA says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Some US lawmakers are working to ban TikTok. The research firm says TikTok could make $9 billion-$10 billion in US revenue in 2024. There probability TikTok will be banned is still low but it's gone up significantly over the last six months, the firm said. "We place less than a 50% probability that TikTok will be banned by the end of 2024," Zino said. "A TikTok ban would move the needle more for SNAP than others," said Zino.

☆ Russia will have to rely on nukes, cyberattacks, and China since its military is being thrashed in Ukraine, US intel director says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Chris Panella | John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's military losses in Ukraine will leave it reliant on "asymmetric" options, the US intel director said. Discussions on Russia's relationship with China have also been ongoing, including speculation that Beijing might be considering sending lethal aid to Russia. In late February, a top Pentagon official told lawmakers Russia had lost the war and will emerge from war in Ukraine a "shattered military power." "Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been a strategic defeat. Russia's military is going to have to be rebuilt," George Barros, a military analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, told Insider in September.

The White House threw its support behind a new bipartisan Senate bill on Tuesday that would give the Biden administration the power to ban TikTok in the U.S. The White House issued a statement publicly endorsing the bill while Warner was briefing reporters. Sullivan's statement marks the first time a TikTok bill in Congress has received the explicit backing of the Biden administration, and it catapulted Warner's bill to the top of a growing list of congressional proposals to ban TikTok. As of Tuesday, Warner's legislation did not yet have a companion version in the House. "The RESTRICT Act is more than about TikTok," Warner told reporters "It will give us that comprehensive approach."

☆ US senators unveil bipartisan bill empowering Biden to ban TikTok and other services
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Washington CNN —A dozen US senators unveiled bipartisan legislation Tuesday expanding President Joe Biden’s legal authority to ban TikTok nationwide, marking the latest in a string of congressional proposals threatening the social media platform’s future in the United States. The legislation, called the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology (RESTRICT) Act, does not target TikTok specifically for a ban. In the case of TikTok, lawmakers have said China’s national security laws could force TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, to provide access to TikTok’s US user data. The bill specifically directs the Secretary of Commerce to “identify, deter, disrupt, prevent, prohibit, investigate, or otherwise mitigate” national security risks associated with technology linked to those countries. But those have expanded to include makers of surveillance cameras and, more recently, apps and software makers such as TikTok.

☆ New bipartisan Senate TikTok bill will be unveiled Tuesday
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Christina Wilkie | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Pictured here is the TikTok download page on an Apple iPhone on August 7, 2020. WASHINGTON — A highly anticipated bipartisan Senate bill to give the president the authority to respond to threats posed by TikTok and companies like it will be unveiled Tuesday afternoon by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, a committee spokeswoman told CNBC. "TikTok is one of the potentials," that could be targeted by the bill, Warner said. Warner's bill comes nearly a week after the House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced a Republican-sponsored bill that aims to do much of the same thing. The House legislation passed the GOP-controlled committee 24-16 along party lines, with unanimous GOP support and no Democratic votes.

☆ TikTok a potential target in upcoming US bill to ban some foreign tech - Senator
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) speaks to the media following a classified briefing for U.S. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File PhotoWASHINGTON March 5 (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators plan to introduce legislation this week aimed at letting the government "ban or prohibit" foreign technology products such as Chinese-owned TikTok, Senator Mark Warner said on Sunday. Warner, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said TikTok would be "one of the potentials" for review under the bill. The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee voted on Wednesday to give President Joe Biden the power to ban TikTok, in what would be the most far-reaching U.S. restriction on any social media app. He said he planned to introduce the legislation this week with Republican Senator John Thune.

☆ Senators to launch bill that will help ban or prohibit foreign technology like TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner, D-Va., said Sunday he is introducing a broad bipartisan bill this week that will outline an approach to banning or prohibiting foreign technology, like the popular video-sharing app TikTok. TikTok is a short-form video platform that is used by more than 100 million Americans. Warner's legislation comes after U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee voted Wednesday to advance a bill that would grant President Joe Biden the authority to ban TikTok. The bill passed the Republican-controlled committee 24-16 along party lines, with unanimous GOP support and no Democratic votes. TikTok is no stranger to challenges from U.S. officials, as former President Donald Trump declared his intention to ban the app by executive action in 2020.

☆ Lawmakers Seek More Information on Biden, Trump Classified Documents Following Briefing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Sadie Gurman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Mark Warner (D., Va.) and Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) said they still had questions following their Tuesday meeting with intelligence officials. WASHINGTON—Top lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee said they would continue to press for information about the classified documents that ended up in the personal possession of two presidents, after a Tuesday briefing from U.S. officials “left much to be desired.”The meeting with officials from the Justice Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation and intelligence community “helped shed some light on these issues,” Chairman Mark Warner (D., Va.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), the panel’s vice chairman, said in a statement, adding that they would “continue to press for full answers to our questions.”

Wray's comments Tuesday came after Baier noted that the Energy Department had cited the FBI's earlier findings in its report. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, said earlier Tuesday that China has "always been open and transparent" about Covid. In its assessment, the Energy Department also described the "likely" laboratory-related leak as an "accident," the official added. The Energy Department is one of 18 government departments and agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said, "China obviously is very threatened by this," but "the lab leak story is not anti-Chinese.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, on Sunday called for "extensive public hearings" if the U.S. intelligence community conclusively determines that Covid-19 leaked from a Chinese laboratory. The committee is "reviewing the classified information provided," the spokesperson said. "There is a variety of views in the intelligence community. Some elements of the intelligence community have reached conclusions on one side, some on the other. "But right now, there is not a definitive answer that has emerged from the intelligence community on this question."

☆ A growing group of lawmakers think TikTok is 'digital fentanyl' and want to ban it. Many others remain skeptical.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Some members of Congress have begun pushing to ban TikTok in the US. "I'm a little less enthusiastic about an all-out ban of it," said Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. "I'm an incrementalist on a lot of things, and I would be on this as well," said Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on social media and the internet's impact on children. Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, another committee member, said she's most concerned about how social media platforms are impacting kids.

☆ How Putin's Russian goon squad used Mexican gig workers to troll an American election
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +25 min

Posting to social media sounded like an easy work-from-home gig, so he applied. This post from the Prigozhin-backed Social CMS network in Mexico referred to America as "we." He verified his account by providing chat transcripts, screenshots, contracts, and internal company documents. But just because Social CMS didn't yield an immediate, large-scale impact doesn't mean it should be ignored. "I didn't know who are you," wrote the person who is listed in the corporate directory as Prigozhin's media liaison.

☆ U.S. Senator Rubio seeks review of Ford technology deal with China's CATL
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Anna Rose Layden/Pool via REUTERSWASHINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Senator Marco Rubio on Tuesday asked the Biden administration to review Ford Motor's (F.N) deal to use technology from Chinese battery company CATL (300750.SZ) as part of the automaker's plan to spend $3.5 billion to build a battery plant in Michigan. The $430 billion IRA imposes restrictions on battery sourcing and is designed to wean the United States off the Chinese supply chain for electric vehicles (EVs). Treasury declined to comment, but Granholm said on Twitter on Monday that "bringing advanced manufacturing capabilities from overseas to the United States is key to our competitiveness, will stimulate our economy, and create good-paying American jobs." Ford said the plant would create 2,500 jobs and begin producing lower cost and faster recharging lithium-iron-phosphate batteries in 2026. Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise tweeted criticism of the Ford deal, while Republican Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin said last month that his state had withdrawn from the competition to attract the Ford plant over concern's about China's potential involvement.

☆ The DOJ will brief lawmakers on the classified documents recovered from Trump and Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The DOJ will brief some lawmakers on the nature of the classified records recovered from Trump and Biden. The DOJ has so far resisted bipartisan calls from lawmakers to get access to the documents themselves. FBI personnel swept Biden's properties at least three times as part of its investigation into his handling of classified documents. The documents were turned over to the Archives shortly after, and the FBI also searched the office in mid-November and began assessing whether classified documents had been mishandled. Trump, meanwhile, is facing his own criminal investigation after the FBI executed a search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago property last August and recovered troves of classified documents that Trump had resisted turning over to the government.

"We don't know who owns this object," said White House spokesperson John Kirby, adding that it was unclear where it began its flight. President Joe Biden ordered the shootdown, which was announced from the White House. Some lawmakers criticized the president for not shooting down the Chinese balloon sooner. The object was shot down off the coast of northeastern Alaska over frozen U.S. territorial waters near the Canadian border. UNMANNED VESSEL[1/4] White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby takes questions during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. February 10, 2023.

☆ Top lawmakers want answers from Meta on documents which show that 245,000 developers in 'high risk' countries like China may have been able to access user data pre-2014
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Roughly 245,000 developers in "high risk" countries could have accessed Facebook users' data pre-2014, unsealed documents show. The Senate Intelligence Committee has sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg asking for more details. Last December, Meta agreed to pay $725 million to settle the lawsuit, which accused it of sharing users' data with the political consulting firm. A Meta spokesperson told Insider: "These documents are an artifact from a different product at a different time. Many years ago, we made substantive changes to our platform, shutting down developers' access to key types of data on Facebook while reviewing and approving all apps that request access to sensitive information."

☆ Exclusive: The FBI's McGonigal labyrinth
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +28 min

She never saw McGonigal pay. "The notion that Mr. Deripaska is some proxy for the Russian state is a blatant lie," Ruben Bunyatyan, a spokesperson for Deripaska, told Insider by email. McGonigal was not charged with espionage, and although there is currently no evidence that McGonigal committed espionage, an FBI source told Insider that the investigation is ongoing. At the FBI, McGonigal racked up a string of big cases and promotions. "He said he needed to make more money," Guerriero told Insider.

☆ US senators seek answers from Meta on whether user data was accessed by China, Russia and others
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

In a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, Sens. The findings are “especially remarkable given that Facebook has never been permitted to operate in [China],” they added. “These documents are an artifact from a different product at a different time,” said Meta spokesman Andy Stone. Hostile governments could seek to use Americans’ personal information to spread disinformation or identify intelligence targets, US officials have said. But the lawmakers’ letter highlights how worries about data access by foreign adversaries extends beyond TikTok and encompasses some of the largest social media platforms.

[1/2] The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4, 2023. REUTERS/Randall HillWASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Sunday it is searching for remnants of the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon it shot down the previous day, in a dramatic spy saga that has further strained American-Chinese relations. A successful recovery could potentially give the United States insight into China's spying capabilities, though U.S. officials have downplayed the balloon's impact on national security. Democrats said Biden's decision to wait to shoot down the balloon until it had passed over the United States protected civilians from debris crashing to Earth. The Pentagon will brief senators on the balloon and Chinese surveillance on Feb. 15, Schumer said.

☆ ABC anchor calls out Sen. Marco Rubio during tense exchange over Chinese spy balloon: 'This happened 3 times under the previous president'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

ABC's Jonathan Karl called out Sen. Marco Rubio during a tense exchange about the Chinese spy balloon. In response, Karl said former President Donald Trump did not disclose three different sightings of Chinese balloons during his term. "And we're also told, by the way, that this happened three times under the previous president," Karl said. The Chinese balloon in question was shot down by the Air Force over the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday. Trump has also been ranting about the Chinese balloon on his Truth Social page.

☆ Republicans criticize Biden for waiting to shoot down Chinese balloon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4, 2023. Schumer said downing the balloon into the ocean likely enables U.S. intelligence officials to examine its remnants. The Pentagon will brief senators on the balloon and Chinese surveillance on Feb. 15, Schumer said. Trump on Sunday disputed Austin's statement that Chinese government surveillance balloons had transited the continental United States briefly three times during his presidency. Speaking on Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning Futures" show, Trump's former director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe also denied such balloon incidents.

☆ China's suspected spy balloon prompts Blinken to postpone Beijing trip as Congress seeks answers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Amanda Macias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

U.S. Secretary of State Blinken attends the Freedom of Expression Roundtable, in New York, U.S., September 19, 2022. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will postpone his trip to China next week following a suspected Beijing-operated spy balloon looming over parts of Montana. Chinese authorities said Friday that the balloon operating over U.S. airspace was a civilian weather balloon intended for scientific research. But the State Department said that was immaterial. "It was a mistake to not shoot down that Chinese spy balloon when it was over a sparsely populated area," Rubio tweeted on Friday.

WASHINGTON/BEIJING, Feb 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed a visit to China that had been expected to start on Friday after a Chinese spy balloon was tracked flying across the United States, a U.S. official said. China earlier expressed regret that what it called a "civilian" airship had strayed into U.S. territory after being blown off course, an incident that sparked a political furor in the United States. Republican Senator Tom Cotton had called for Blinken to cancel his trip, while Republican former President Donald Trump, a declared presidential candidate for 2024, posted "SHOOT DOWN THE BALLOON!" It said it would continue to communicate with the United States to "properly handle" the unexpected situation. Senator Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate intelligence committee, said the spy balloon was alarming but not surprising.

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