spy on
phrasal verb
spied on; spying on; spies on
: to watch (someone) secretly
He spies on his neighbors.
Have you been spying on me?
Examples of spy on in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The concern among many U.S. lawmakers — both Democrats and Republicans — is that because ByteDance is a Chinese company, the People’s Republic of China could seek to use TikTok to spy on Americans or force the app to spread pro-China propaganda.
—
Todd Spangler, Variety, 24 Apr. 2024
So far, there has been no public evidence that the app is being used to spy on U.S. citizens, but reporting from multiple outlets have indicated TikTok's American operation has struggled to fully separate from its Chinese parent company.
—USA TODAY, 24 Apr. 2024
TikTok is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, yet there is no publicly available evidence that government officials have ever influenced what Americans see on the app, nor any proof that officials in China have spied on U.S. citizens through TikTok.
—Bobby Allyn, NPR, 20 Apr. 2024
Last year, a worker at ByteDance in China told the Wall Street Journal that the Chinese government had accessed TikTok user data in 2018 to spy on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters, including their network information, SIM card IDs, and IP addresses.
—Alexandra Sternlicht, Fortune, 15 Apr. 2024
Proponents argue that the ban is necessary to prevent the Chinese government from using the app to spy on Americans.
—Daniel Lyons, TIME, 3 Apr. 2024
It’s supposed to be used to spy on foreigners—NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden made sure the world knew about that use case—but White House privacy advisers made clear at the time that Americans’ communications are also often scooped up.
—David Meyer, Fortune, 11 Apr. 2024
Democrats who have long championed civil liberties, like Sen. Ron Wyden, have aligned with Republican supporters of Trump, who in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday stated incorrectly that Section 702 had been used to spy on his presidential campaign.
—CBS News, 10 Apr. 2024
Nobelium, the same group behind the SolarWinds attack, managed to spy on some Microsoft executive email inboxes for months.
—Tom Warren, The Verge, 3 Apr. 2024
Todd Spangler, Variety, 24 Apr. 2024
So far, there has been no public evidence that the app is being used to spy on U.S. citizens, but reporting from multiple outlets have indicated TikTok's American operation has struggled to fully separate from its Chinese parent company.
—USA TODAY, 24 Apr. 2024
TikTok is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, yet there is no publicly available evidence that government officials have ever influenced what Americans see on the app, nor any proof that officials in China have spied on U.S. citizens through TikTok.
—Bobby Allyn, NPR, 20 Apr. 2024
Last year, a worker at ByteDance in China told the Wall Street Journal that the Chinese government had accessed TikTok user data in 2018 to spy on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters, including their network information, SIM card IDs, and IP addresses.
—Alexandra Sternlicht, Fortune, 15 Apr. 2024
Proponents argue that the ban is necessary to prevent the Chinese government from using the app to spy on Americans.
—Daniel Lyons, TIME, 3 Apr. 2024
It’s supposed to be used to spy on foreigners—NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden made sure the world knew about that use case—but White House privacy advisers made clear at the time that Americans’ communications are also often scooped up.
—David Meyer, Fortune, 11 Apr. 2024
Democrats who have long championed civil liberties, like Sen. Ron Wyden, have aligned with Republican supporters of Trump, who in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday stated incorrectly that Section 702 had been used to spy on his presidential campaign.
—CBS News, 10 Apr. 2024
Nobelium, the same group behind the SolarWinds attack, managed to spy on some Microsoft executive email inboxes for months.
—Tom Warren, The Verge, 3 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'spy on.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Spy on.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spy%20on. Accessed 27 Apr. 2024.
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