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The government is auditing TikTok, not using TikTok to spy on US citizens.

The US is trying to determine to what extent TikTok is a domestic security threat.

CFIUS is an organ of the US government designed to prevent foreign intrusion that risks national security. That's the entity involved here. They don't touch ordinary US citizens.

This is not domestic spying. It's investigating the capabilities of a foreign power on US soil.

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Of course Snowden showed us that agencies regularly exceed their mandates. Why would that not be possible here?

All I can tell you is I've worked for a company that had to comply with CFIUS agreement, and honestly, there are no surveillance capabilities whatsoever. They have oversight capabilities and can audit the parts of the business that are covered by the security rules. Ironically, these rules we had to comply with were called the National Security Agreement (NSA) but that entirely coincidental. It was not anywhere near as exciting as people commenting here are speculating.

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