By Roy San Martin

Don't you hate this? You get a song stuck in your head and think about it everywhere. I heard "Every Breath You Take" and keep singing the words:

"Every breath you take

And every move you make

Every bond you break

Every step you take

I'll be watching you".

It sounds more sinister than a love song. But it also made me think about the popularity of the social platform, Tik Tok which "watches" its users as a data espionage issue. ByteDance, a Chinese governmental company, owns Tik Tok. Cybersecurity experts warn that China has already been monitoring its own people through this technology and could also gather and exploit information on Americans. Tik Tok users find entertainment and information here. China controls the largest part of the digital" territory" of the world through its popular Apps: WeChat, Sina Weibo, Tencent QQ, Douban, Baidu Tieba, Xiahongshu, and Youku. All seem to send users' data back to Beijing. In fact, these Apps are entering the financial markets as WeChat has issued a digital Yuan to promote digital currency.

Many social apps track the location of their users for "advertising" purposes. They claim that ads will be specific to the area that the user lives. But FBI sources have noted Tik Tok had specifically tracked the physical locations of US government officials, activists, public figures, and journalists. The U.S. Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S. noted that Apps like Tik Tok had financial information on Americans which could be used in future business negotiations.

The Chinese warrier, Sun Tszu believed the ultimate goal of warfare is to win without fighting. China is winning by controlling the digital territory and minds of the world. Sun Tszu said: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” Through Tik Tok, China is learning all about the Americans (their enemy) and will not succumb in the final battle.