Rep. Devin Nunes warns of Big Tech censoring conservatives
California congressman Devin Nunes weighs in on Big Tech facing allegations of political bias on ‘Fox & Friends Weekend.’
Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., praised President Trump's proposed ban of social media phenomenon TikTok on Sunday, warning "Fox & Friends" viewers that " your data, [and] your kids' data" could end up "in the hands of the Chinese" if the White House fails to intervene.
"TikTok is from China. Any company that’s in China, over 50 percent of it is owned by the Chinese Communist Party," Nunes said. "So, If you want your data, your kids' data, all of that information to end up in the hands of the Chinese..."
POMPEO WARNS TIKTOK USERS' PERSONAL INFO COULD GO DIRECTLY TO CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY
Trump announced on Friday that he plans to ban the social media platform from the United States. A ban would further pressure TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the app’s U.S. operations amid national security concerns about users' personal data. Microsoft is a leading contender to buy.
TikTok has become wildly popular with millions of Americans in the last few years, especially teenagers, who use it to make short videos.
The app grants the Chinese government access to the personal data of U.S. users, Nunes said, warning that the information could be utilized by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) "to run a propaganda operation into this year’s election. "
TRUMP SAYS HE PLANS TO BAN TIKTOK FROM US
"That would be very, very disturbing and we would have zero control over it," he explained. "We wouldn’t be able to do an investigation, because they’d never even turn over any information."
Nunes continued: "There’s a reason why the Indian government has banned this. There’s a reason why our Defense Department is not letting our military men and women in uniform use this. And I think, for one, we should all as Americans not be using an app like this."
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" that Trump has "had enough" with several software companies that present "a broad array of national security risks” and will take measures in the coming days to address it.
“These Chinese software companies doing business in the United States,” Pompeo said, “are feeding data directly to the Chinese Communist Party, their national security apparatus. Could be [users'] facial recognition pattern, it could be information about their residence, their phone numbers, their friends, who they’re connected to. Those are the issues that President Trump’s made clear we’re going to take care of. These are true national security issues.”
"I think for one, we should all as Americans not be using an app like this."
The move by Trump comes amid heightened tension between the U.S. and China over the coronavirus, trade, Hong Kong and the closing of consulates over accusations of spying.
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Asked whether he believes Trump's crackdown on the software companies will influence voters in the upcoming presidential election, Nunes said he finds it "very telling" that 2020 Democratic presumptive nominee Joe Biden has yet to speak out on the issue.
"One thing I haven’t heard this has been out for 48 hours and you’ve heard the Secretary of State [Mike] Pompeo, he’s been talking about this for several weeks. What have we not heard? We haven’t heard a peep from the Biden campaign," Nunes said.
"We haven’t heard anything from the Democrat leadership in the House or the Senate. I think that’s very, very telling. For whatever reason, they’re scared to take on the Chinese Communist Party. I don’t know why," he added, " but I know that Donald Trump and Republicans are willing to do it."
Fox News' Ronn Blitzer and Brie Stimson contributed to this report.
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