Mueller Publishes Op-ed on TikTok, National Cybersecurity

Posted July 18, 2022

Milton Mueller, professor in the School of Public Policy and School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, published an op-ed in the New York Daily News. The article, titled “TikTok Is Not a Threat to America,” argues against claims that the social media app poses threats to national cybersecurity.

In the article, Mueller highlights several attempts that government officials have made to crack down on TikTok and rebuts the claims of cybersecurity concerns officials have used to justify them. This includes the argument that TikTok, a Chinese-owned company, will steal private information.

“If the Communists find out that I follow @looneytunes, @thisissavvy, @underthedesknews and the psychedelic digital creations of @hellopersonality on TikTok, I don’t see how our country is imperiled,” Mueller writes. “What will they do with this information, even if they get it for millions of others? To call TikTok a governmental surveillance tool militarizes the entire global data economy — any form of trade would fit the mold.”

Read the full article in the New York Daily News.