The U.S. intelligence community says that TikTok censored content outside of China on behalf of the Communist government in Beijing, according to a heavily redacted Justice Department legal brief filed late last week. The Washington Times’ Ryan Lovelace has all the details of a case that offers a rare glimpse into what American spies know about the Chinese government’s use of the wildly popular video-sharing app.

U.S. officials said that intelligence shows that TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, have taken action to meet government demands to censor content outside the country. If true, those allegations would offer more proof of the Chinese regime’s direct hand in using TikTok to push its own preferred online narratives abroad.

TikTok said the government has put forward no proof to back up its allegations. It’s the latest development in an ongoing legal war between the two sides after President Biden signed legislation earlier this year forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban in the U.S.

Last month, TikTok officials released a letter that accused the Biden administration of engaging in “political demagoguery” during high-stakes negotiations between the government and the company.

Mr. Maduro, Venezuela’s socialist president, and his opponent, former diplomat Edmundo Gonzales, were locked in a standoff Monday after each side claimed victory in the nation’s presidential election. A win for Mr. Maduro would continue the United Socialist Party of Venezuela’s control of Caracas for the past 25 years, a reign that began with the late strongman Hugo Chavez’s ascent to power in 1999.

Venezuelan election officials said that Mr. Maduro received about 51% of the vote compared to 44% for Mr. Gonzalez, a retired diplomat, despite preelection polls showing the opposition candidate with a hefty lead.

Those official government figures, critics say, are highly suspicious. Speaking to reporters in Tokyo early Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken applauded the Venezuelan people for their participation in the election but said the Biden administration has major questions about the reported results.

“We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people,” Mr. Blinken said.

The Human Rights Foundation cast the result as a “rigged outcome.” The organization cited exit polling from Edison Research that found Mr. Gonzales received about 65% of the vote to Mr. Maduro’s 31%. The massive discrepancy between the official tallies and those unofficial exit poll results will fuel significant questions about the legitimacy of the vote.

Of course, none of that seems to matter to some of Venezuela’s allies. Russian President Vladimir Putin, for example, quickly congratulated Mr. Maduro on his “victory.”

Mr. Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin were in Tokyo over the weekend for meetings with their Japanese counterparts. Among other takeaways, Mr. Austin announced a plan to convert U.S. Forces Japan into a joint force headquarters that will report directly to the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. Mr. Austin described it as the single biggest change to the structure of the American military presence in Japan in 70 years.

The new joint force headquarters will be commanded by a three-star officer and will serve as a counterpart to Japan’s own Japan Self-Defense Forces Joint Operations Command, Mr. Austin said.

China wasted little time in both blasting the move and casting it as dangerous for Japan. China’s state-run Global Times newspaper said it “will put Tokyo in the front line of a counterattack from other countries, including a nuclear conflict.”

While in the region, Mr. Blinken also met with his counterparts in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or “Quad,” composed of the U.S., India, Japan and Australia. The four nations compiled a set of measures to reinforce maritime safety and cybersecurity and to support other Asia-Pacific countries in improving their defenses during growing tensions in the regional seas — but their statement did not mention China specifically.

Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah inched closer to a full-blown war Monday after Israeli strikes killed two people and injured three others in southern Lebanon, according to state-run media in Lebanon. Those Israeli strikes were believed to be direct retaliation against Hezbollah after a rocket fired by the group struck a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, killing 12 children and teens over the weekend.

Israel said it was the deadliest day for Israeli civilians since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

With the region on edge, flights in and out of Beirut were delayed or canceled Monday. In Israel, the incident has led to a rare moment of at least partial unity, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu’s government giving him the green light to decide how to respond to the Hezbollah assault.

Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, told CBS News on Sunday that the Biden administration has held up multiple weapons shipments to Israel in the hopes of changing Israel’s approach in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

Such delays have been reported before and have deepened the rift between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Biden administration. But despite denials from Mr. Biden himself, Mr. McCaul cast it as an ongoing situation, one that is potentially dangerous for Israel, as the Biden administration seeks to use weapons as direct leverage.

“I think maybe it gives them leverage over Israel and decision-making processes,” he told the “Face the Nation” program on Sunday. “But when I talked to the prime minister and his office, this creates daylight between the United States and Israel. And I think it’s very dangerous, especially right now, for us to somehow put daylight between us and our most important U.S. ally … in the Middle East.”

The White House has downplayed the issue and said it has delayed only one weapons shipment.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has infiltrated high-level U.S. private and public institutions, creating a critical national security threat here at home. That’s the warning from Lisa Daftari, a journalist and foreign policy expert who is editor in chief of The Foreign Desk, a multimedia platform.

She writes in a piece for The Times that the infiltration has penetrated all corners of American society.

“Iran has managed to plant people in our government; many are double agents spreading misinformation and pushing the regime’s agenda,” she says. “The media, a pillar of democracy, haven’t been spared either. Even nongovernmental organizations, often seen as society’s moral compass, are not immune. Many have fallen prey to regime influence, subtly shifting their objectives to align with Iran’s goals. And then there are the lobbies in Washington with regime apologists and mouthpieces masquerading as ‘Iran experts’ and often on the ayatollahs’ payroll.”

It doesn’t get much media attention, but Iranian influence operations inside the U.S. have long been a concern, as have unofficial, back-channel communications between Tehran and key decision-makers in America. Threat Status has previously delved deep into behind-the-scenes efforts involving prominent politicians and other figures to push for a softer U.S. policy toward Iran.

• July 30 — Nuclear Posture Review: Building Our Strength in 2025, The Heritage Foundation

• July 30 — The Defense of Guam, Center for Strategic and International Studies

• July 30 — The State of U.S. AI Innovation and Readiness: A Conversation with OSTP Director Arati Prabhakar, Brookings Institution

• July 30 — Testimony on the findings and recommendations of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy, Senate Armed Services Committee

• Aug. 8 — Over the Brink: Escalation Management in a Protracted U.S.-China Conflict, Center for a New American Security