United States Orders Chinese Company Behind TikTok To Sell The Platform Or Face Nationwide Ban

Biden demanded that ByteDance – the Chinese technology firm that runs social media platform TikTok – sell the vertical application or face a ban in the United States.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers expressed concern over reports that TikTok members had access to user data. This platform is used by more American youth than any other social network. National security concerns have led to calls for the Biden administration’s demonetization of ByteDance and a nationwide ban.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (a nine-member board that weighs the national security implications from international investments) recently ordered ByteDance’s sale. The company promised to spend $1.5 million to secure American user data and to prevent Chinese officials accessing the information.

“If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access,” Brooke Oberwetter, TikTok’s spokeswoman, claimed in a statement that she made to The Wall Street Journal. “The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, U.S.-based protection of U.S. user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing.”

TikTok actually offered the national security proposal Project Texas to American officials. Bloomberg reports that the proposal was rejected in the United States by the Committee on Foreign Investment.

Three years ago, similar national security concerns led to officials in the Trump administration trying to forcibly divest TikTok. A new controversy about TikTok has emerged amid worsening Sino American relations. This is due to the recent passage of a Chinese surveillance ballon across the continental United States.

President Joe Biden and several other state-level officials have already stopped TikTok being used in government. Last month, the European Union also made similar moves.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D.CT) and Sen. Jerry Moran, (R-KS), recently exhorted Treasury secretary Janet Yellen (who leads the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States), to forcibly sell TikTok. The lawmakers also noted that ByteDance had acknowledged at the close of last year, that staff members had been fired. “spied on the private data of journalists and others in order identify sources behind articles critical of the company,” Forbes also reported that ByteDance had plans to track specific American citizens’ locations.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R.MO) recently published allegations made by a TikTok ex-employee. He claimed that employees at the firm, including members the Chinese Communist Party who are on their payroll, could switch between American data and Chinese data. “nothing more than the click of a button.” According to some reports, workers use apps created in China. “insert software backdoors,” Hawley’s description was based on an unnamed whistleblower account.

“I have seen first-hand China-based engineers flipping over to non-China datasets and creating scheduled tasks to backup, aggregate, and analyze data,” Hawley was reportedly informed by the whistleblower. “TikTok and ByteDance are functionally the same company. They use the same data analysis tools and chat apps, and managers are in constant contact.”

“From United States Orders TikTok-owned Chinese Company To Sell The Platform Or Face Nationwide Ban”

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