Chinese-owned tutoring company found in classrooms across America

well Public Schools Nationwide are using a student tutoring service recently flagged for its connection to a Chinese firm and it's even disclosed on their website a report from our next guest reveals school districts in 25 States use or partner with tutor.com an online company offering support for students as young as kindergarten Nicole Neely is the president and founder of president's defending education and she joins us now it's so great great to have you on Nicole so how did you find out tha

t this I mean it's on the website but was there any government alert saying hey schools you should know this is a Chinese Affiliated company how did it come to your organization's attention no as you um as you alluded to the fact that this is really it's on their website but it's really not been brought to anyone's attention it was quietly bought several years AG by a by a company called Prim Vera Capital that actually has ties to Tik Tok to bite dance and so the fact that this is an operation a

nd at this point we've identified over 100 school districts is of concern because this platform has access to sensitive student data and uh pres Senator Tom Cotton has already flagged this as an issue of concern because the Department of Defense uses it for their Education Agency um but this is something that most American families have no idea is in their backyards and on their children's iPads right so you think that this company is perhaps using the data or or stealing the data from children

is that the concern you have abs absolutely um the founder has ties to two um Chinese Communist linked entities tied to the united front and so we know that there is very much a soft power element going on with the Chinese government putting teachers and curriculum into our school through the confucious classrooms program but then for them also to have access through the back door through Tik Tok through these programs that are in our kids schools being paid for with our tax dollars let that's t

he worst part isn't it it's insult to injury yeah 100% I want to read a statement from tutor.com um they say that claim they say quote we take data protection seriously and we have a number of active controls in place to safeguard information including a binding legal commitment to the US government that Prima will not have access to any personal data so essentially it's like trust us we're not stealing the data um it's very it's not it's not very um Ironclad at all so if if Senator cotton is sa

ying I'm confused because he's saying he's demanding that DOD Department of Defense schools stop using it I don't understand why they are using it and and why they're not warning the schools what would you like the government to do and why do you think they're not concerned about this I don't know why they're not concerned about this I mean we are going to be reaching out to all the state superintendents and governors over the next week to ask that they investigate this um it feels like issues a

round the Chinese presence in our education system are just not being taken seriously across the board last year we identified 143 school districts that have had confusious classroom programs in K to2 system systems they've had teachers come over they've had free curriculum provided by the Chinese government and these are issues that are of real concern because you know as much as we hear Randy wein Garten whining about teaching true history are our children in these classrooms learning about ti

anan Tibet the weager genocide none of these things are taking place yeah well that's the other question there's they're stealing data but then also what is tutor.com actually teaching um and is this being filtered through sort of a Chinese lens it'll be interesting to see what happens um if it maybe if these states can maybe go to an American company um and will that American company be independent or will they also be selling their data Maybe to the American government we don't know um Nicole

great great information um thanks for sharing that with us parents need to know I'm Steve juy I'm Brian kill me and I'm Angley aart and click here to subscribe to the Fox News YouTube page to catch our hottest interviews and most compelling analysis