A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry has criticised the US for its recent decision to ban TikTok from all government-issued devices. Image source: Ivan Radic, Flickr.
A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry has criticised the US for its recent decision to ban popular video-sharing app, TikTok, from all government-issued devices.
The ban has been instituted in response to concerns by intelligence regarding the ways in which user data collected by the app is stored and shared.
Concerns about the application stem from parent company, a Chinese firm named ByteDance.
Private companies in China are governed by a law that requires that they cooperate with Beijing, if asked, raising questions about who has access to data collected from TikTok’s one billion active monthly users.
In December 2022, employees of ByteDance admitted to using data acquired from TikTok in an attempt to track the location of reporters via their IP addresses.
ByteDance condemned the breach of trust and at least four members of staff were fired as a result of the incident, but questions about privacy and security within the company remain.
However, despite numerous investigations globally, there is currently no evidence proving that TikTok’s data harvesting is used for purposes other than those employed by other social apps such as Instagram and Facebook.
Spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry, Mao Ning, accused the US of abusing its power to suppress foreign companies.
“We firmly oppose those wrong actions,” said Mao Ning at a news briefing on Tuesday. “The US government should respect the principles of market economy and fair competition, stop suppressing the companies and provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for foreign companies in the US.”
“How unsure of itself can the world’s top superpower like the US be to fear young people’s favourite app like that,” she added.
Similar laws have been introduced in Canada and the EU requiring employees to remove the app from government devices.
Canada’s chief information officer stated that the app presented “an unacceptable risk to privacy and security.”
A spokesperson from TikTok criticised the Canadian government for implementing the ban without consulting the company on any specific security concern.
“It’s curious that the government of Canada has moved to block TikTok on government-issued devices without citing any specific security concern or contacting us with questions only after similar bans were introduced in the EU and the US.”
“Singling out TikTok in this way does nothing to achieve that shared goal,” said the spokesperson.
“All it does is prevent officials from reaching the public on a platform loved by millions of Canadians.”
In the US, further legislation restricting the use of TikTok is expected to pass through congress in the coming months.
