On Wednesday, a group of TikTok content creators dismounted on the US Capitol to protest against calls for a ban on the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok, amid worries that it raises a national security threat.
Lawmakers and state officials have complained that TikTok’s parent company ByteDance can hand users’ data to the government in China and are calling for it to be pulled from app stores unless it is sold to a US company.
Supporters claim that TikTok is no more prone to data violations than any other apps that collect private information and that lawmakers should be working to set up privacy laws rather than spoiling their fun.
A group of teenagers, teachers, and business owners rallied at Congress to concern their opposition to a possible ban and attract attention to the advantages of TikTok on their lives and livelihoods. Some in the group said they had been flown to Washington by the company, US media reported.
I kind of built my business on TikTok, so this poses somewhat of a problem for me and my business.
Are there other platforms out there? Absolutely — I’m on them. But none of them have the reach that TikTok has.”
An aspiring soapmaking entrepreneur @countrylather2020 told her 70,000 followers in a video recorded after she arrived in the capital.
The app is already prohibited on all federal and some state government devices and is blocked by several public universities, but lawmakers and President Joe Biden are considering a complete ban.
TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew is due to testify in Congress on Thursday, where he is expected to tell the House Energy and Commerce Committee: “ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country.”
