There is mounting pressure in Congress to pass a national ban on TikTok.
While most lawmakers have been focused on TikTok in recent weeks, there's another Chinese-owned app cybersecurity experts say poses a risk: WeChat. WeChat is the most popular app in China. It combines (among other uses) texting, calling, and shopping. It's also the Chinese Communist Party's preferred platform to monitor its own citizens.
“This helps them more accurately develop a ‘social score’ on a citizen,” Political consultant Luke Macias said. “These are the type of things that you’re spending your money on, these are the type of things that you’re saying, these are the types of groups you’re engaged in.”
Macias adds that the Chinese would like to collect Americans personal data as well. Some states, like North Carolina, have already taken steps to ban WeChat from government devices.