Congress questions Amazon over dangerous and unwise TikTok partnership

Date:
Fri, 15 Nov 2024 15:10:17 +0000

Description:
Amazon representatives discussed its TikTok partnership of House China
committee.

FULL STORY

The House Select Committee on China has expressed concerns over Amazons
ecommerce partnership with Chinese-owned video platform, TikTok. The
partnership between the platforms allows TikTok users to link their Amazon
account, and make purchases through the site without leaving the TikTok app. 

Lawmakers met with representatives from Amazon in a closed-door meeting at
Capitol Hill to discuss the retail giant's deepening relationship with the
video platform. The meeting reportedly took place a month after the
collaboration was announced. 

The Select Committee conveyed to Amazon that it is dangerous and unwise for
Amazon to partner with TikTok given the grave national security threat the 
app poses, a spokesperson told Bloomberg .

National security threats 

The Committee raised concerns over the perceived threats posed by Chinas
government, and that a leading US company was partnered with a Chinese-owned
organization, which has been previously threatened with a ban over national
security concerns. 

Like many other US companies, we maintain open lines of communication with
officials across all levels of government to discuss issues that are of
interest to policymakers, our employees, and our customers, the spokesperson
said. 

Amazon has advertised on TikTok for a long time, but the shopping
collaboration will likely make it more difficult for the US to ban TikTok as
previously attempted, given Amazon is the second largest employer in the US,
and second largest company in the world by revenue. 

Earlier in 2024, the US threatened TikTok with a ban unless it severed ties
with Chinese parent company ByteDance, over concerns that the company was
sharing customer data with the Chinese governments and weaponize the
information, something that TikTok has always denied. 

TikTok challenged the ban, which it claims is unconstitutional, and as of 
yet, the platform remains on the App store. President-elect Donald Trump is
expected to halt the efforts to ban the app, so its future is looking more
secure.

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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/congress-questions-amazon-over-dangerou
s-and-unwise-tiktok-partnership

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