US wants to Ban TikTok App: A law requiring ByteDance, the Chinese company that created the well-known short-video app TikTok, a US federal appeals court has upheld the company’s decision to sell off its US operations by the start of next year or face banishment.
170 million Americans use TikTok, and president-elect Donald Trump has declared that he will not allow its ban. A comprehensive list of US accusations against the business and its parent company, ByteDance, can be found here.
Chinese government holds TikTok management accountable
TikTok is a national security risk, according to FBI Director Chris Wray, who also highlighted the fact that Chinese businesses must essentially “do anything the Chinese government requests of them in terms of information sharing or acting as a Chinese government tool.
Congressmen are upset about the Chinese government’s “golden share” in ByteDance, which gives it authority over TikTok.TikTok said the holding “does not affect ByteDance’s global business outside of China, including TikTok,” and also alleged that “Chinese government-linked entities own 1% of ByteDance subsidiary Douyin Information Service.”
Americans could be influenced by TikTok
- TikTok’s US operations raise national security concerns, according to FBI’s Wray, because the Chinese government may use the video-sharing app to manipulate users or take control of their devices.
- Wray warned US lawmakers that the Chinese government might use TikTok to control the collection of data from millions of users and to take control of recommendation algorithms used for influence operations.
- In March 2023, Paul Nakasone, the director of the National Security Agency, expressed concern about the information TikTok gathers, the algorithm that distributes it to users, and “the control of who has the algorithm.”
- He asserted that TikTok could enable sweeping influence operations since it could both “turn off the message” and actively sway users.
- According to TikTok, no government is allowed to change or have any influence over its recommendation system.
- In its decision upholding the law, a three-judge federal appeals court panel said that the years-long efforts of both political branches to look into the risks to national security that the problems with the TikTok platform, and in evaluating the solutions that TikTok has suggested, “Weigh heavily in favour of the (law).”
TikTok canallow American data to the Chinese government
According to lawmakers, ByteDance may be forced to share TikTok user data by the Chinese government under a 2017 National Intelligence law. TikTok contends that U.S. laws and regulations apply to it because it is incorporated in Delaware and California. The CEO of the company claims that TikTok has never given the Chinese government access to user data belonging to US users and never will.
Risk to children’s mental health
- An investigation into whether TikTok harms young people’s physical or mental health and what the company knew about its involvement in those harms was started in March 2022 by eight states, including California and Massachusetts.
- The investigation focuses on TikTok because it increases the frequency and duration of time spent on the platform by young users.
- Many of these measures impose restrictions that don’t exist on comparable platforms, according to TikTok, which claims to have taken a number of actions to help and confirm that teens under 18 years have a safe and entertaining experience on the app.
