FCC commissioner escalates TikTok concerns, says China uses data to maintain ‘authoritarian grip on power’

Senior Republican and FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is doubling down on his argument that the Treasury Department and its subsidiary Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) should ban video-sharing app TikTok for American users over national and cybersecurity concerns.

"Once they obtain this data, there's all sorts of espionage, blackmail activity they can engage in," Carr said in an interview on "Cavuto: Coast to Coast" Wednesday. "One thing I'm really concerned about is this data is going back to Beijing and feeding their artificial intelligence operation. Right now, the [People’s Liberation Army], the [Chinese Communist Party] are using and improving that A.I. to maintain their authoritarian grip on power."

Carr, one of the five commissioners who lead the FCC, argued in an interview with host Neil Cavuto that TikTok’s content is "sheep’s clothing" with a "sophisticated surveillance app" underneath, collecting Americans' data on the app to relay back to Beijing and the CCP. TikTok is owned by the Chinese tech giant, ByteDance, and Chinese law mandates that companies share their data with the CCP upon request.

TikTok is currently in negotiations with CFIUS after the app allegedly planned to monitor users’ physical locations. Carr says the data protections won't be secure enough regardless of what deal may be reached.

"The Biden administration, through the Treasury, through CFIUS, is looking to have a draft deal in place, according to New York Times reporting, that would allow some data to continue to flow back to Beijing under this," Carr said. "There's concern that that's not tough enough. There's been some concern at the top of the DOJ about that, and I echo those concerns."

STUDY FINDS 10% OF U.S. ADULTS USE TIKTOK TO GET THEIR NEWS REGULARLY, UP FROM 3% IN 2020

Carr spoke on the security dangers of TikTok and China’s authoritarian motives from Taipei City, Taiwan, Wednesday, "a part of the globe that knows better than anywhere right now the threat posed by communist China."

"I think all of this is part of a broad set of issues, which is that Beijing is looking to use all sorts of tech and telecom means, whether it's cyber attacks, whether it's harvesting data through TikTok, to pursue their malign goals," the commissioner said.

There’s "broad, bipartisan" concern about TikTok’s data collection, Carr noted. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., told an Australian newspaper last Tuesday during a visit to the country that TikTok posed privacy and national security concerns to the American public.

"This is not something you would normally hear me say, but Donald Trump was right on TikTok years ago," Warner told The Sidney Morning Herald. "If your country uses Huawei, if your kids are on TikTok … the ability for China to have undue influence is a much greater challenge and a much more immediate threat than any kind of actual, armed conflict."

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio also recently tweeted: "I told everyone years ago TikTok was a tool of communist China… And yet Biden invites TikTok ‘influencers’ to the White House."

"I think this is a basic IQ test when you look at what is going [on] right now, the saber-rattling that China is doing just across the Taiwan Strait here," Carr said. "I think we need to get serious about the threat that the communist regime is playing."

TikTok pushed back on Carr in a statement to FOX Business, with a spokesperson claiming they can’t comment on negotiation details, but that Commissioner Carr’s concerns about U.S. user data and protections have been addressed.

"Commissioner Carr has no role in the confidential discussions with the U.S. government related to TikTok and appears to be expressing views independent of his role as an FCC commissioner," TikTok responded. "We are confident that we are on a path to reaching an agreement with the U.S. Government that will satisfy all reasonable national security concerns."

The TikTok spokesperson further said that, though they appreciate Carr's concern for data privacy protections, the deal will actually hold the app to a higher security standard and greater scrutiny by the U.S.

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While TikTok representatives insist that users' data are safe, executives for the company have admitted under oath that the data is accessible from China.

Carr had previously suggested Apple and Google app stores remove TikTok from their library, but he’s now calling for a complete ban of the platform in the U.S.

"All the reporting we're seeing is there simply is no firewall in place. These employees in Beijing are essentially dual-hatted, working for Beijing, working for TikTok," Carr warned, "and that's why I think, just as a practical matter at this point, it's time to say we've seen enough and we need to sort of end this long inquiry into TikTok. And I think it needs to be resolved with a ban."

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FOX Business’ Anders Hagstrom and Fox News’ Haris Alic contributed to this report.