On Tuesday, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines spoke before a House of Representatives intelligence committee hearing and said he could not discredit the idea that China's ruling Communist Party would not use TikTok to influence elections in the United States when asked by Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi if they would do so.
"We cannot rule out that the CCP would use it," he replied.
Krishnamoorthi is the ranking Democrat on the House Select Committee on China.
Last week he and Republican chair Mike Gallagher introduced a bill that would give TikTok's owner ByteDance six months to divest from the app which is used by over 100 million Americans.
The House is slated to vote on fast-tracking rules that require two-thirds of members to vote affirmative for the measure to pass.
FBI Director Christoper Wray would also speak at the House hearing and repeated his assessment that TikTok posed a risk to national security.
"Americans need to ask themselves whether they want to give the Chinese government the ability to control access to their data," Wray said, adding that it could ultimately "compromise their devices."
Last week, Joe Biden said he would sign the bill if it passed. But getting the measure passed by both the House and Senate could prove difficult.
The 2024 Annual Threat Assessment released by the US Intelligence Community said TikTok accounts run by the Chinese Communist government's propaganda wing had targeted candidates from both political parties during the US midterm election cycle.
U.S. lawmakers have long expressed concerns that the Chinese government could gain access to user data or influence what people see on the app, including content meant to foment political discord.
TikTok denies any wrongdoing and has repeatedly stated that it has not and would not share the user data of U.S. citizens with the Chinese government. It is unclear whether the Chinese government would approve of such a sale or divestment.
