The Biden Administration has threatened to ban ByteDance’s TikTok platform from the United States unless the company’s Chines owners agree to spin off their share of the social media platform, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The ultimatum was reportedly issued by a United States multiagency panel known as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), and continues to escalate the long-standing issues that the US has surrounding TikTok’s links to China on a platform that boasts over 100 million United States users, in an effort to protect user data amid concerns about security risks.
“If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem,” TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said in an official statement. “A change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access. The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, US-based protection of US user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing.”
China responded on Thursday saying that the United States was “unreasonably suppressing” TikTok and spreading “false information” about data security.
“The US side has so far failed to produce evidence that Tik Tok threatens US national security” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing.
