It is not clear when TikTok – which is owned by startup Beijing-based ByteDance – It will come out of Hong Kong, and what that will mean for app users in the city. The spokesman did not respond to a request for more details.
Loosely defined rules expand the power of officials to investigate, prosecute, and punish foreign citizens for a variety of crimes, such as “inciting hatred” among Hong Kong residents towards mainland China.
TikTok is also not available on the mainland, where ByteDance markets a Chinese version of the app called Douyin. ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Douyin would be available to Hong Kong users.
TikTok’s departure to Hong Kong occurs when the app tries to distance itself from China and ByteDance.
People should only download TikTok “if they want their private information to be in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party,” Pompeo said in an interview on Fox News.
TikTok did not respond to a request for comment on the main statements of the US diplomat, but previously denied that the application represents a risk to national security and said that it operates separately from ByteDance. TikTok has said, for example, that its data centers are located entirely outside of China, and that none of that data is subject to Chinese law.
The app has grown in popularity in the United States and other Western countries since its launch in 2016, making it the first Chinese social media platform to gain traction with users outside of its home country. It was downloaded 315 million times in the first three months of this year, more quarterly downloads than any other app in history, according to analyst company Sensor Tower.
But the app has recently hit a roadblock in one of its biggest markets.
India last week banned TikTok and other Chinese apps, saying they pose a “threat to sovereignty and integrity.” The ban follows broader and growing tensions between the two countries after a border clash between the two countries last month that left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead.
India has been the biggest driver of new TikTok downloads, generating nearly 660 million installations since its launch in 2017, according to Sensor Tower.
– Brian Rokus and Hadas Gold contributed to this report.
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