Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday that the United States is “certainly looking at” banning 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 in an interview with American news channel Fox News.
Mike Pompeo also said the United States has to take a different path with regard to China as the previous policy of helping them open up their economy with the believe that this would lead to more political freedom has not worked, PTI reported.
US laws takes into account data protection and privacy of the users as an essential criteria. Applications like TikTok does not guarantee data privacy and is bound to provide information to the Chinese government if directed. This feature makes it vulnerable to the citizens of other countries in times of disagreement between the nations.
Meanwhile, the popular video snippet-sharing app TikTok said it is stopping working in Hong Kong due to “recent events.” 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 a sweeping new security law. The apps are likely to lose millions of dollars in revenue if the trend continues.
On June 29 , the Indian government announced a ban on 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, WeChat and UC Browser. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad termed India’s decision a ‘digital strike’.
India banned nearly 60 Chinese mobile apps, including TikTok, citing national security concerns, after their militaries clashed earlier this month https://t.co/WTEXfhGuvW
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 29, 2020
