The US government is urging the Chinese owners of TikTok to sell the social media platform, otherwise they risk facing a ban.
This concern has arisen as many countries worry about China’s intentions with the user data collected by the app. Although TikTok collects similar data to other apps, US officials fear that this information could be accessed by the Chinese government.
The US government believes this data could potentially be used for spying or propaganda purposes. As a result, TikTok has been banned from government devices in several countries, including the UK, Canada, and the EU. India has already imposed a complete ban on the app since 2020.
However, TikTok has defended itself by stating that it operates like any other social media company and that it would not comply with any directive to transfer data to Chinese authorities. A ban on such a widely used app would be unprecedented in the US, where one in three Americans use TikTok.
