Another day, another TikTok ban on government devices. This time it’s the UK government:
Chinese-owned social media app TikTok is set to be banned on phones and other devices used by government ministers and civil servants on security grounds.
Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Dowden will make a statement to MPs later.
There has been no official comment – but Security Minister Tom Tugendhat had asked the National Cyber Security Centre to review the issue.
TikTok has strongly denied allegations that it hands users’ data to the Chinese government.
Well, the veracity of that last sentence is in question. But in any case, this is the latest ban of the popular social media app. And it’s not the biggest problem that it has right now. This is:
The Biden administration is threatening a potential ban of TikTok in the United States if its Chinese owners refuse to sell their stakes in the video sharing app, a source close to the company told NBC News on Thursday.
The source, however, cautioned that the company did not see this as a final order.
The administration’s demand, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, signals a significant shift in the U.S. stance toward Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., which owns the popular video sharing app.
The White House and Treasury Department declined to provide comment to NBC News.
In a statement, a spokesperson for TikTok said: “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. 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.”
Any divestiture by ByteDance Ltd. would have to be approved by the Chinese government. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday that the U.S. had failed to provide any evidence that TikTok poses a threat to its national security.
“The U.S. side should stop spreading false information on the issue of data security, stop unreasonably suppressing the enterprises concerned, and provide an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for enterprises of all countries to invest and operate in the U.S.,” the spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, said at a regular news briefing.
Based on how TikTok and the Chinese Communist Party responded to this latest threat of an outright ban of TikTok in the US, I am going to go out on a limb and say that TikTok is going to get banned unless either TikTok, ByteDance or the CCP blink. Because they have to know that if the US bans TikTok, other countries will do the same. Thus it might be time for the CCP, ByteDance and TikTok to start engaging with the US and others to address all the concerns that they have before they get wiped off the phones of millions.