In part, Senator Cotton wrote:
“While providing educational services, Tutor.com collects personal data on users, such as location, internet protocol addresses, and contents of the tutoring sessions. As Chinese national security laws require companies to release confidential business and customer data to the Chinese government, we are paying to expose our military and their children’s private information to the Chinese Communist Party.”
Full text of the letter may be found here and below.
February 14, 2024
The Honorable Lloyd Austin
U.S. Department of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301-1000
I write regarding the Chinese-owned Primavera Capital Group’s contract with your Department to tutor American service members and their children. This business relationship is ill-advised, reckless, and a danger to U.S. national security, and the Department should immediately end that relationship.
Tutor.com is a long-standing provider of tutoring services to our service members and their families. In January 2022, Primavera Capital Group—a Chinese-owned corporation associated with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance—acquired Tutor.com and The Princeton Review (TPR Education LLC) from ST Unitas. In May 2023, The Wall Street Journal drew public attention to the dangers of this acquisition, yet the Department continues to utilize Tutor.com services.
While providing educational services, Tutor.com collects personal data on users, such as location, internet protocol addresses, and contents of the tutoring sessions. As Chinese national security laws require companies to release confidential business and customer data to the Chinese government, we are paying to expose our military and their children’s private information to the Chinese Communist Party.
Please provide the following information no later than February 20, 2024:
- How much funding has the Department provided to Tutor.com since 2022?
- Did the Department participate in any security reviews of Primavera’s acquisition before it was approved? If so, did the Department raise any concerns?
- Has the Department conducted an internal review to determine whether to continue this business relationship? If not, why?
- How many military personnel or dependents use Tutor.com annually?
- Are users informed their data will be shared with a Chinese company?
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Tom Cotton
United States Senator