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Republicans are demanding that the Biden administration act in opposition to Beijing-based video sharing app TikTok after the navy shot down a suspected Chinese language spy balloon that drifted throughout US airspace for a number of days.
“Now blow up TikTok,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) posted Saturday on Twitter, simply hours after two US jet fighters destroyed the balloon in waters off South Carolina.
The balloon was first detected by the US navy on Jan. 28 close to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.
However the Biden administration saved it a secret till reviews surfaced final Wednesday that individuals in Montana had observed a big orb floating excessive throughout the sky.
Over the subsequent few days, the balloon, crusing at an elevation of about 60,000 ft, continued to make its manner throughout the Midwest — together with over navy services that housed nuclear missile silos and protection programs — earlier than heading over the Atlantic Ocean the place it met its finish on Saturday.
Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) mentioned the balloon was one other technique for China to spy on the US.
“The CCP continues to develop its surveillance operations past its borders. First, it was TikTok and Huawei. Now, it’s floating balloons to spy on Individuals in full view,” Flood mentioned on Saturday, referring to the Chinese language Communist Celebration.
“The Biden Administration is projecting weak spot by dragging its ft to cease their plans. America is at a crossroads and it’s time to attract a line within the sand: We won't enable the CCP to surveil, spy on, or harvest knowledge from Individuals,” he added.
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton on Sunday mentioned China has been “waging a chilly struggle in opposition to america for many years” and the balloon is a placing reminder of Beijing’s evil intentions.
“I feel this spy balloon that so vividly went throughout America is a really high-profile reminder to Individuals about what the Chinese language communists have been as much as,” Cotton, of Arkansas, mentioned on “Fox Information Sunday.”
“I bought to let you know viewers, in the event that they’re nervous a couple of spy balloon flying throughout center of America, let me inform them in regards to the TikTok app that they might have on their telephone and what it means for his or her safety and their privateness and that of their youngsters, as properly,” he mentioned.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) additionally picked up on the hyperlink between the balloon and the extensively in style app.
“An enormous Chinese language balloon within the sky and hundreds of thousands of Chinese language TikTok balloons on our telephones. Let’s shut all of them down,” he mentioned on Friday.
Requires Congress to extra deeply scrutinize TikTok, which is owned by Chinese language-based ByteDance, have risen in depth over the previous a number of months and have come from each Republicans and Democrats.
The lawmakers concern that the corporate is mining the personal knowledge of US customers of TikTok and supplying that data to the Chinese language Communist Celebration.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), launched a invoice final week to ban TikTok within the US, saying it supplies a “backdoor” for China to entry data.
“The massive downside with TikTok is that it's a backdoor for the Chinese language Communist Celebration into the private knowledge and the private lives of each American who makes use of it, that features particularly our youngsters,” Hawley advised The Hill.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the chair of the Home Vitality and Commerce Committee, has invited TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to testify earlier than her panel on March 23 in regards to the firm’s “shopper privateness and knowledge safety practices.”
China reacted with outrage to the downing of the balloon, contending it was a “civilian airship” that had blown off target.
“In these circumstances, for america to insist on utilizing armed power is clearly an extreme response that severely violates worldwide conference,” an announcement from the Chinese language authorities mentioned.
“China will resolutely defend the professional rights and pursuits of the enterprise concerned, and retains the appropriate to reply additional.”
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