The United States took a significant step on Tuesday toward banning the popular app TikTok through a White House-backed bill, amid growing Western mistrust of the Chinese social network.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement that he “welcomed” a bill introduced the same day that would, among other things, ban apps like TikTok.
This text, carried by a Democratic senator and a Republican senator, “would allow the American State to prevent certain foreign states from operating technological services (…) in a way that threatens the confidential data of Americans and our national security,” said the president. wrote the White House adviser.
“Act of Restraint”
Many US elected officials view the short, viral video platform, which belongs to the Chinese group ByteDance, as a threat to national security. They fear, along with a growing number of Western governments, that Beijing could access user data from around the world through this app.
TikTok has been denying this for years, but tensions between the two countries, and recently the downing of an alleged Chinese spy balloon, have raised calls to stand firm against China.
Specifically, the bill, called the “Restriction Law”, gives the Minister of Commerce new powers to prohibit this application.
“Muzzle Freedom of Expression”
A competing bill, introduced in the House of Representatives, also passed a key milestone in Congress last week. Banning the app would be tantamount to “muzzling free speech” for millions of Americans, protests TikTok, which claims to have more than 100 million users in the United States. The app’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, will be heard by the US Congress at the end of the month.
The app has already surpassed YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook in “time spent” by American adults, and is now behind Netflix.
In late February, the White House had already ordered federal institutions to ensure that TikTok disappears from their smartphones within 30 days, under a law ratified in early January by Joe Biden.
Source: BFM TV
