The top Democrat on the Senate intelligence panel is pressing Google and Twitter for information on any data-sharing partnerships the businesses have with Chinese companies.
Sen. Mark Warner’s action follows a New York Times report this week that Facebook allowed Chinese-owned firms like Huawei Technology Co. to access user information, at times without explicit consent from individuals or their friends on the social media site.
In separate letters Thursday to both Twitter and Google’s parent company Alphabet, Warner requested information on existing partnerships with firms like Huawei and ZTE Corp., as well as on any similar agreements the companies have with Chinese-owned mobile device manufacturers.
Google has engaged in several ventures with China-based Huawei and Xiaomi.
“There are indications that this practice of embedding social media sharing functions with the Chinese [original equipment manufacturers] may have been more widespread, potentially through agreements with Alphabet’s subsidiaries and these Chinese companies,” Warner, who represents Virginia, wrote to Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Larry Page.
Similarly, Warner pressed Twitter to provide a list of any agreements it struck with third-party firms in China. He expressed specific concerns to both companies about the ability of the Chinese government to access Facebook’s application building interface, or API.
“In 2012 alone, there were more than 200 million monthly users on Twitter,” Warner wrote. “The possibility of Chinese vendors with documented ties to the Chinese Communist Party having access to Facebook’s private API (and potentially Twitter’s) — particularly as China develops tools to harness individual-level data for surveillance and social control — raises serious national security concerns.”
The U.S. government has long claimed that Huawei and ZTE, in particular, act as conduits for Chinese espionage in the U.S. The Pentagon and the Federal Communications Commission have both sought to curb the American operations of the two companies.
In his letters, Warner questioned whether Alphabet or Twitter would have allowed any of the companies to store user data on private servers as part of the potential third-party agreements. The New York Times, in its report, said some companies that had partnered with Facebook stored user information on their own servers.
The inquiry is the latest in a series of concerns raised by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers over the prevalence of Chinese companies in the U.S.
Warner released his letters the same day that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced an agreement with ZTE to lift an April order barring any U.S. business from selling products to the Chinese firm. As part of the agreement, ZTE will pay a $1.4 billion fine and overhaul its management team, as well as allow the U.S. government to appoint a new, internal compliance team.
“Beijing is about to get one heck of a deal on a backdoor into U.S. telecom networks,” Warner tweeted in response.
