TikTok To Part Ways With Byte Dance To Avoid Ban

Agencies

San Francisco: In order to prevent a national ban, U S officials have advised the well-known video-sharing app to sever ties with its Chinese parent company Byte Dance, confirmed TikTok on Wednesday.

Western countries, like the European Union and the United States, have been approaching the app with growing vigour because to concerns that Chinese authorities could utilise or abuse user data.

If protecting national security is the main goal, calls for a ban or divestiture are useless as neither option addresses the larger industry problems of data access and transfer, proposals, said TikTok spokeswoman.

“We remain convinced that the best way forward to address national security concerns is transparent, US-based protection of US user data and systems, with comprehensive third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification,” spokeswoman added.

The Wall Street Journal and other US news outlets on Wednesday reported that the White House set an ultimatum: if TikTok remains a part of Byte Dance, it will be banned in the United States.

“This is all a game of high-stakes poker,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors.

The White House last week welcomed a bill introduced in the US Senate that would allow President Joe Biden to ban TikTok. The bipartisan bill “would empower the United States government to prevent certain foreign governments from exploiting technology services… in a way that poses risks to Americans’ sensitive data and our national security,” stated US President Biden National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

The White House quickly backed the bill once it was introduced, which increased the political pressure against TikTok, which is also the subject of another piece of legislation in the US House of Representatives.

One of the few subjects that has the possibility for bipartisan support in both the Senate, where Biden’s Democratic Party holds the majority, and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

American officials began to express increasing concern earlier this year after a Chinese balloon that Washington claimed was on a spy mission passed over US airspace.