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US officials and lawmakers have expressed concern in recent weeks that Beijing, a very popular device, could be used for dishonest purposes, but the company itself denies having ties to the Chinese government.
Media reported on Friday that Trump would demand that the Chinese company ByteDance, which runs the app, abandon operations in the United States, but the president announced a ban.
Trump told reporters: “As for (the gadget), we will ban it in the United States.” The president added that steps could possibly be taken as early as Saturday, using economic power in an emergency or issuing an executive order.
D. Trump announced the measure after the United States Foreign Investment Committee (CFIUS), which is investigating the potential impact of the deal on United States national security, conducted an assessment of the application.
The TikTok app, which is very popular with young people who create and watch short videos, has around $ 1 billion worldwide. consumers
When AFP contacted TikTok, the app declined to comment on the media reports, saying only, “We are confident in TikTok’s long-term success.”
“Hundreds of millions of people flock to TikTok to entertain and connect, including our community of content creators and artists who make money on the platform,” added the company.
The company promised a high level of transparency this week, including permission to revise its algorithms to reassure consumers and regulators.
“We are not politicians, we do not accept political advertising and we do not have an agenda, our only goal is to remain a dynamic and dynamic platform for everyone to enjoy,” said Kevin Mayer, CEO of TikTok this week.
“TikTok has become the ultimate target, but we are not enemies.”
The platform’s popularity grew when its parent company, ByteDance, acquired a similar type of American platform, Musical.ly, in 2017 and merged it with its own app.
James Lewis, head of the Technology Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said he believed TikTok’s security risks were “close to zero,” but said ByteDance could be under pressure from China to censor.
“It looks like ByteDance may be under pressure from Beijing, so forcing them to leave makes sense,” Lewis said. “They may start to censor some things.”
Lewis argued that US authorities had the power under CFIUS to cancel a previous acquisition of the device. A similar move was already made in 2019, when the Grindr dating app was acquired by a Chinese company.
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