Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Monday that the U.S. is “certainly looking at” blocking Chinese social media apps including the popular short video app TikTok. U.S. legislators cite the reason is because of allegations that these apps are sharing personal information with the Chinese government. "We are taking this very seriously and we are certainly looking at it," Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News. TikTok is owned by Chinese-based company ByteDance and this has caused concern among U.S. lawmakers. Pompeo warns Americans should consider that their personal information could potentially be sold to the Chinese government if they download TikTok.
In response to these allegations, TikTok has stated: “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”.
This isn’t the first time TikTok has been in the national security spotlight. In December, the United States Navy strongly encouraged military personnel and staff to delete the app if it was downloaded on a government issued device. “This decision was made based on cybersecurity threat assessments, and is consistent with 10th Fleet efforts to proactively address existing and emerging threats in defense of our networks," said Dave Benham, director of public affairs for U.S. Fleet Cyber Command in a statement to USA Today.
