The app in vogue among young people around the world is in the sights of Americans. A bill that could lead to a total ban on TikTok in the United States reached a key milestone in the US Congress on Wednesday. The text, carried by a Republican elected official, would give President Joe Biden the authority to completely ban TikTok. It was passed in the morning by the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, thanks only to the votes of Republicans.
Many U.S. elected officials consider the short, viral video platform a threat to national security. They fear, along with a growing number of Western governments, that Beijing will not be able to access the data of users around the world through this app, something TikTok has denied for years.
Personal data versus freedom of expression
"Make no mistake, TikTok is a real security threat," warned Republican Michael McCaul, author of the text. "Anyone who downloaded TikTok to their device offered the Chinese Communist Party a backdoor to all their personal information," he said in a statement. Banning the app would amount to "muzzling the freedom of speech" of millions of Americans, protested in return TikTok, which claims more than a hundred million users in the United States.
To be adopted, the text must now be voted on in a plenary session of the House of Representatives, then the Senate. Democratic President Joe Biden has the option of vetoing it. On Monday evening, however, the White House has already ordered federal institutions to ensure that TikTok disappears from their smartphones within 30 days, under a law ratified in early January by Joe Biden.
- USA
- World
- TikTok
- China