A U.S.-based tutoring company on Tuesday pushed back against a conservative campaign to 鈥渄estroy鈥� it due to security fears over its Chinese owner.

In a posted online, said the parents鈥� rights group in recent months has misrepresented its operations, falsely claiming it has ties to the Chinese government. The company, based in New York, said the parents鈥� group is trying to persuade lawmakers and others that Tutor.com 鈥渋s somehow a puppet of the Chinese government and a threat to national security,鈥� according to the letter. 

Founded two decades ago, Tutor.com was acquired in 2022 by , a Beijing-based investment firm in Hong Kong, Singapore and Palo Alto, Calif. In the letter to attorneys representing Parents Defending Education, the company said the parents鈥� group has chosen to portray Tutor.com 鈥渁s a stalking horse to advance the advocacy group鈥檚 broader political agenda.鈥�

The effort by Parents Defending Education both echoes and influences a larger one by lawmakers nationwide to raise security concerns about companies linked to China, including fears that they could be compelled to share student data with the Chinese government.

But John Calvello, Tutor.com鈥檚 spokesperson and chief institutional officer, said the fears are misplaced.

鈥淔irst and foremost, it’s important to say: We are an American company,鈥� he said in an interview. 鈥淚 want to be very clear about that. And again, as an American company, you have to abide by all U.S laws and regulations.鈥�

Tutor.com, Calvello said, 鈥渃annot be compelled to share data鈥� with anyone.

He noted that it had recently undergone a voluntary review by the federal , which found, in his words, 鈥渘o unresolved national security concerns.鈥�

He also said the company has a designated security officer approved by the U.S. government to ensure data security compliance. And he said all of Tutor.com鈥檚 data is housed in the United States. 

According to the watchdog site , states, school districts, colleges and even the Pentagon have spent more than $35 million on contracts with Tutor.com over the past decade. Among the largest: nearly $1.6 million in 2015 for online homework tutoring for the U.S. Defense Department and $1.1 million in 2022 for tutoring at California State East Bay.

Following the pandemic, state and school district spending on Tutor.com, as with other tutoring providers, skyrocketed. In December, the New Hampshire Department of Education said it would through Tutor.com to every student in fourth- through twelfth grades, as well as to those prepping for GED exams. 

But many lawmakers have also sought to minimize China鈥檚 influence in both K-12 and higher education.

After Congress in 2018 targeted the nearly 100 Confucius Institutes on U.S. college campuses, restricting federal funding at schools with programs, their number dropped to fewer than five, according to a 2023 U.S. Government Accountability Office . 

In 2024, lawmakers are seeking to ban TikTok due to the social media application鈥檚 Chinese ownership. Primavera is a minority investor in ByteDance, TikTok鈥檚 parent company. ByteDance also owns the AI-powered homework helper .

But Tutor.com has been the subject of much of the scrutiny around student data. In February, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, Lloyd Austin, saying the Pentagon鈥檚 relationship with Tutor.com is 鈥渋ll-advised, reckless, and a danger to U.S. national security.鈥�

Cotton said the Pentagon should end its dealings with the company, suggesting that students鈥� personal data, such as location, IP addresses and the contents of tutoring sessions, could be released to the Chinese government. He said the U.S. is 鈥減aying to expose our military and their children鈥檚 private information to the Chinese Communist Party.鈥�

In March, Manny Diaz, Jr., Florida鈥檚 commissioner of education, to public K-12 and higher education leaders statewide, saying Tutor.com鈥檚 ties to 鈥渇oreign countries of concern鈥� may compromise student data privacy. Diaz said the State Board of Education had adopted rules to protect student data 鈥渢o keep it out of the hands of bad actors,鈥� adding that school districts, charter schools and state colleges 鈥渕ust take the necessary steps to protect their students from nefarious foreign actors such as the Chinese Communist Party.鈥�

And last month, 13 lawmakers, led by U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Michigan, to U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, saying Tutor.com 鈥減oses a significant national security threat.鈥� They asked what measures the department had taken to assess 鈥渢he potential national security risks associated with Tutor.com’s relationship.鈥�

A spokesperson for Cardona did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Neily recently that Tutor.com鈥檚 Chinese ties are 鈥渟omething that just seemed to have slipped past the goalies.鈥�

During a segment on the company, the show鈥檚 host alleged that providers like Tutor.com can gather data from even the youngest students and 鈥渁dapt what they need to teach these kids to make sure they’re good, functional little robots.鈥� He asked Neily, 鈥淚s that the plan?鈥� 

She replied, 鈥淭hat very much seems to be the plan,鈥� adding, 鈥淟et’s be honest, this data is not being secured by America’s best and brightest.鈥�

Neily did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tutor.com鈥檚 Calvello said much of the alarm around the company鈥檚 Chinese ties stems from the parents鈥� group, which he said has been 鈥減romoting falsehoods鈥� that lawmakers and others have amplified. As a result, he said, a few school districts have been under pressure to drop the service, with critics quoting the parents鈥� group鈥檚 materials. 

鈥淲e’re prepared to pursue legal avenues to protect our reputation and operations from false claims,鈥� he said.