Cotton, Cassidy Condemn Biden Administration for Naming Chinese-Run TikTok as U.S. Cyber Games Sponsor

Source: United States Senator for Arkansas Tom Cotton

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: James Arnold or Mary Collins Atkinson (202) 224-2353
October 21, 2021 

Cotton, Cassidy Condemn Biden Administration for Naming Chinese-Run TikTok as U.S. Cyber Games Sponsor

Washington, D.C. – Senators Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-Louisiana) released the following statement condemning the Biden administration for allowing Chinese state-owned TikTok to be named the founding sponsor of the U.S. Cyber Games. As part of the deal, TikTok Chief Security Officer Roland Cloutier will join representatives from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as members of the Cyber Games Advisory Board.

“Allowing a Chinese state-sponsored data harvesting company to be the lead sponsor for the U.S. Cyber Games is another unbelievable demonstration of this administration’s incompetence. TikTok is required by Chinese law to share U.S. user data with the Chinese Communist Party. They have no business being anywhere near this event and the Biden administration needs to pull their sponsorship,” said the senators.

Background

Tik Tok is required by Chinese law to share its user data with the Chinese Communist Party. They are also currently the subject of a criminal investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a national security investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department and were recently fined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for violating the privacy of children.

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