Chinese President Xi Jinping's ally on Sunday slammed former U.S. Secretary of State for "lying" on "China-related topics."
What Happened: Mike Pompeo, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and secretary of state under former President Donald Trump, demanding a ban on "spy app," said the Chinese Communist Party has requested access to private data collected by TikTok.
"As former secretary of state and CIA director, I can assure you the CCP has already demanded private data collected by TikTok and will continue to demand it," he tweeted.
See Also: This Viral TikTok Hack Can Sass Up Your iPhone Wallpaper Every Time You Unlock It
"It’s past time to ban this spy app," he added.
Replying to Pompeo's tweet, Hu Xijin, a Chinese journalist and the former editor-in-chief and party secretary of CCP's mouthpiece, Global Times, said, "I can assure you he is lying — as he always does on China-related topics."
Comments from Pompeo came after a group of lawmakers revived legislation asking to block the popular video-sharing platform because Beijing controls it and there are fears that the Chinese government could compel it to share data on U.S. users.
Earlier in December, the FBI had raised concerns about the China-based video-sharing app, saying it poses a national security threat. The FBI Director Chris Wray had expressed concerns about how TikTok functions and how China controls the content offerings.
Check out more of Benzinga’s Europe and Asia coverage by following this link.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.