Mike Pompeo Considering U.S. Ban on TikTok and Other Chinese Apps

For the United States government, the threat that comes from Chinese-funded social media has concerned politicians and elected officials. In early 2020, we saw several congressional officials promoting bills that would investigate TikTok’s connections to the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP for short. But now certain officials of the Trump administration are pushing for an outright ban on TikTok.

In a clip from Fox News, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated that “We are taking this very seriously. We are certainly looking at it”…“With respect to Chinese apps on peoples’ cellphones, the United States will get this one right too.” 

The United States would hardly be the first country to place a ban on such apps due to local data security concerns. India implemented a similar policy last week, stating that they were concerned about Chinese apps acting in a manner that might undermine Indian sovereignty.

When asked for comment, a representative of ByteDance (TikTok’s corporate owner) told The Verge that “TikTok is led by an American CEO, with hundreds of employees and key leaders across safety, security, product, and public policy here in the U.S. We have no higher priority than promoting a safe and secure app experience for our users.”

“We have never provided user data to the Chinese government, nor would we do so if asked.”

TikTok has also received recent attention as well for possible breaches in children’s privacy.