WASHINGTON: The United States has considered banning the famous Chinese app TikTok in the country.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the US is considering to ban Chinese social media apps, including TikTok. “I don’t want to get out in front of the President (Donald Trump), but it’s something we’re looking at,” Pompeo said.
He added that people should only download the app if they want their private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party. Pompeo’s remarks come during a time of heightened tensions between the United States and China, which have spilled over into several areas including national security, trade, and technology.
Read more: US lauds India’s ban on Chinese apps including TikTok
TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based startup ByteDance, has been repeatedly criticized by US politicians who accused the short-form video app of being a threat to national security because of its ties to China. The app has been recently been banned in India along with 58 other Chinese apps after a border clash between India and China.
Moreover, TikTok is stopping its popular video snippet-sharing app from working in Hong Kong and will exit the market within days. The move by TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, came as Facebook, Google and Twitter put a hold on requests by Hong Kong’s government or police force for information on users, following China’s imposition of sweeping new security law.
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