TikTok set to be banned by biggest market, US, in major blow

In an interview with the Axios news website on Tuesday, a US FCC commissioner suggested that the federal government could take action against the online video network TikTok.

Brendan Carr of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said, in light of recent discoveries regarding how TikTok Inc. and its Chinese parent company ByteDance handle US user data, that there is no alternative to a ban.

According to an investigation conducted by the American magazine Forbes, ByteDance, the Chinese internet giant and owner of TikTok, intended to utilise the popular social network to track the whereabouts of American residents it was interested in spying or obtaining particular information on.

According to the Forbes story, the Chinese corporation routinely investigates its TikTok and ByteDance workers to discover whether secret information is being leaked.

The CEO of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, ordered the collecting of information from his current and former staff.

ByteDance also acquired data from American workers and former employees using an auditing mechanism known as the “green channel” and transferred this information to Beijing.

The Chinese corporation has reportedly not been transparent with U.S. authorities about its operations and has not responded to inquiries regarding the operation of its internal audit team.

In addition, it states that access to specific information pertaining to US users would be “limited only to authorized personnel, pursuant to protocols being developed with the U.S. Government.”

In response to Washington’s concern, TikTok sponsored the so-called “Texas Project” to prevent the flow of information from the North American nation to the Asian nation.

In a September hearing before the US Congress, the business said that it would achieve a settlement that would address any national security concerns on the app. Nonetheless, several senators have expressed scepticism.

In July, recordings of over eighty TikTok meetings were released, exposing that Chinese workers of the corporation had accessed the private data of US customers.

This is despite the fact that, according to the company’s prior declarations about its privacy policies, the data of users from the United States (USA) are kept in their home country and not in the Asian nation.

Currently, the role and commitment of ByteDance to restrict China-based workers’ access to US TikTok user data are unclear.

It should be recalled that previous U.S. president Donald Trump attempted to ban the use of the programme in the nation because of concern that ByteDance acquired the personal information of US citizens and shared it with the Chinese authorities.

Currently, US legislators and TikTok are collaborating on a proposal under which the short-form video app will modify its data security and governance without its parent firm being required to sell it.

The Joe Biden administration and TikTok have established a preliminary agreement to address national security concerns, but are still deliberating on a prospective contract.

US legislators have long scrutinised the popular platform, questioning the Chinese-owned app’s safety of user data.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an interagency government review panel that evaluates the dangers of foreign investment to US national security, is evaluating TikTok.

More than two years have passed since a US national security tribunal ordered parent firm ByteDance to abandon TikTok because of concerns that US user data may be shared with the Chinese communist government.

TikTok is one of the most popular social media applications in the world, with over a billion active users and the United States as its biggest market.