On Monday, Mike Pompeo, secretary of the state, told a media outlet, Fox News, that the United States is thinking of banning TikTok and many other Chinese social media apps.
His statement arrives when tensions arise between China and the United States, and inspection on TikTok and Chinese tech companies continue to surge.
In a Fox News interview, Mike Pompeo answered the question that they are taking it very seriously, and they are certainly observing at it. He added that they have worked on this problem for a long time.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
…When asked in a Fox News interview if the U.S. should be looking at banning TikTok and other Chinese social media apps, Pompeo said: “We are taking this very seriously. We are certainly looking at it.”https://t.co/M7ooLSbtS8
— Sachin Kalbag (@SachinKalbag) July 7, 2020
Mentioning two Chinese telecommunication networking giants, Pompeo said that, whether it was the difficulties of having Huawei tech in American infrastructure, they have gone all across the world, and most importantly, they are attaining real progress getting that out. He continued that they declared ZTE a threat to American national security. Pompeo even said that regarding Chinese mobile apps on peoples’ smartphones, the U.S. will get this right too.
When a media company, CNBC, tried to contact with TikTok, it was not quickly available for the comment.
Users data could be compromised
Furthermore, Washington was campaigning against several Chinese tech companies. The United States has described that Huawei equipment could be used for intelligence by China and even recognize that user data could be used. But on the other side, Huawei company consistently opposed all those accusations.
Source: Web
Since last year, TikTok (powered by Beijing based firm, ByteDance) has been on the radar. Moreover, Washington has raised concerns that the app censors content and its data easily accessible by Beijing.
TikTok tried to create a gap from its Chinese parent company
Besides this, TikTok has made efforts many times to push it away from its parent Chinese company. Earlier this year, TikTok hired Kevin Mayer, former Disney executive, to be CEO of TikTok. The action was formed to regain trust with regulators.
Administration of Trump is still not very agreeable even it comes doubtful about TikTok. When Fox News asked Mike Pompeo that if United States natives should get the social media app, he replied that only if people want their private information to hand over to the Chinese Communist Party.
In response to Pompeo’s comment, spokesperson of TIkTok told a media outlet, CNBC, that TikTok is headed by an American CEO, with hundreds of workers and key leaders across the security, safety, product and public privacy here in the United States. He added that they have no higher priority than supporting a secure and safe app experience for their users. He said that they have never offered any of the users’ data to the Chinese government, nor would they do if they were asked.
