US lawmakers are campaigning for a blanket ban on the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok to address national security concerns posed by the app, initially raised by the FBI.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced a bipartisan legislation to ban TikTok from operating in the United States and five states have already banned the app from employee phones.
All this started back a few weeks back when the FBI chief Fray expressed his concerns about the app and worried that China could use its proprietary algorithm to shape US public opinion and scoop up user data.
FBI has shared its views with Cfius, the inter-agency committee of the United States government that reviews the national security implications of foreign investments in U.S. companies or operation, which led to a public intervention.
“The federal government has yet to take a single meaningful action to protect American users from the threat of TikTok. This isn’t about creative videos — this is about an app that is collecting data on tens of millions of American children and adults every day,” said Rubio, who added that its being used to “manipulate feeds and influence elections.”
We know it answers to the People’s Republic of China. There is no more time to waste on meaningless negotiations with a CCP-puppet company. It is time to ban Beijing-controlled TikTok for good.”
Representative Gallagher claimed that the app does not just collect data and censor news, but it is also an “increasingly powerful media company” which reports to the country’s leading adversary Chinese Communist Party.
Tiktok is pushing back against claims about the app and called them “misinformation.”
“Maybe they should consider banning all social media apps from government phones,” TikTok’s top US lobbyist Michael Beckerman said, citing that this app is similar to other social media apps.
Tiktok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter says that these administrative plans to push for a ban are “troubling”.
“It is troubling that rather than encouraging the administration to conclude its national security review of TikTok, some members of Congress have decided to push for a politically motivated ban that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States,” Oberwetter said in a statement.
