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TikTok allows users to create and share short videos, usually incorporating music through lip-syncing or dancing. The app is wildly popular with young people, and it has been the breeding ground for some of this year’s biggest memes.

Old Town Road, the record-breaking viral hit song by Lil Nas X was first popularized as part of a TikTok meme, and in recent months politicians including NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and U.S. presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg have used the platform for campaigning.

In the United States, senators Tom Cotton and Chuck Schumer wrote a letter to the acting director of national intelligence, requesting an assessment of national security threats posed by TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance.

“TikTok is owned by Beijing-based technology company ByteDance, which operates several other content platforms in China. ByteDance regards its platforms as part of an artificial intelligence company powered by algorithms that ‘learn’ each user’s interests and preferences through repeat interaction,” the senators wrote.

“With over 110 million downloads in the U.S. alone, TikTok is a potential counterintelligence threat we cannot ignore.”

TikTok has also been accused of censoring videos that deal with topics that are embarrassing to the Chinese government.

The app’s growth is coming at a time when technology companies have been increasingly caught up in geopolitical tensions between the United States and China. IPhone manufacturer Apple came under criticism after it removed an app from the App Store that was being used for organizing by Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters. And video game maker Blizzard came under widespread criticism for banning a professional video game player after he expressed solidarity with the Hong Kong protesters during a tournament.