US Government May Soon Ban TikTok: Report
Jul. 8, 2020AfterIndia, it looks like popular Chinese short video platformTikTok may soon get banned in the US over privacy concerns. That’s according to a recent report onFox Newsbased on their interview with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“We are taking this very seriously and we are certainly looking at it. We have worked on this very issue for a long time, whether its the problem of having Huawei technology in your infrastructure — we’ve gone all over the world and we are making real progress getting that out — we had declared ZTE a danger to American national security,”Pompeo told Fox News.
Although it has not been mentioned explicitly, it might be part of the US’ plans to ban several Chinese apps.“With respect to Chinese apps on people’s cell phones, I can assure you the United States will get this one right too,”he added.
Pompeo further warned Americans to be cautious in using TikTok, adding that they shoulduse TikTok only if they want their private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.
In response to Pompeo’s comments, here’s what a TikTok spokesperson told CNBC:“TikTok is led by an American CEO, with hundreds of employees and key leaders across safety, security, product, and public policy here in the U.S. We have no higher priority than promoting a safe and secure app experience for our users. We have never provided user data to the Chinese government, nor would we do so if asked.”
That statement is similar to the company’s earlier claims that it willnever hand out datato the Chinese government. Notably, all these are happening at a time whenTikTok pulled itself out of Hong Kongdue to the Chinese government’s new intrusive legislation.
Subin writes about consumer tech, software, and security. He secretly misses the headphone jack while pretending he’s better off with the wireless freedom.
