President Donald Trump said Friday he will bar fast -growing social media app TikTok from the United States as American authorities have raised concerns the service could be a tool for Chinese intelligence.
US officials and lawmakers in recent weeks have voiced fears of the wildly popular video platform being used by Beijing for nefarious purposes , but the company has denied any links to the Chinese government .
Media reports circulated earlier Friday saying that Trump would require the US operations of the app be divested from its Chinese parent firm ByteDance , but the president announced a ban .
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump said : “ As far as TikTok is concerned , we ’re banning them from the United States . ”
He added he would take action as soon as Saturday using emergency economic power or an executive order .
Trump ’ s move comes following a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment ( CFIUS ) in the United States , which investigates deals affecting US national security.
TikTok , especially popular with young audiences who create and watch its short - form videos , has an estimated billion users worldwide .
Queried by AFP , TikTok declined to comment on the reports of the forced sales , saying only: “ We are confident in the long -term success of TikTok .
“ Hundreds of millions of people come to TikTok for entertainment and connection , including our community of creators and artists who are building livelihoods from the platform. ”
The firm this week pledged a high level of transparency , including allowing reviews of its algorithms , to assure users and regulators.
“ We are not political, we do not accept political advertising and have no agenda — our only objective is to remain a vibrant , dynamic platform for everyone to enjoy ,” TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer said in post this week .
“ TikTok has become the latest target , but we are not the enemy. ”
The popularity of the platform surged after ByteDance acquired US -based app Musical . ly in 2017 and merged it with its own video service .
James Lewis , head of the technology policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies , said he believes the security risk of using TikTok is “ close to zero ” but that ByteDance could face pressure from China to engage in censorship .
“ It looks like ByteDance may be getting squeezed by Beijing , so making them divest makes sense,” Lewis said . “ They could start censoring stuff. ”
Lewis said US authorities under CFIUS have the power to unwind an acquisition previously approved and that a similar action was taken in 2019 with the dating app Grindr after it was bought by a Chinese firm .
Source : Punching.com
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