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The US government’s ban on the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok shows Washington’s own insecurity and is an abuse of state power, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.
The US government “has gone beyond the concept of national security and abused state power to suppress other countries’ companies,” Mao Ning said in a daily briefing. “How can we not believe that the US, the world’s top superpower, is afraid of the young people’s favorite app with such a title?”
The Biden administration gave all federal agencies, with instructions issued Monday, 30 days to remove TikTok from all government devices. The White House has not allowed TikTok on the device.
Canada announced it was joining the US in banning TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices on Monday.
“I suspect that if the government takes the important step of telling all federal employees that they can no longer use TikTok on their work phones, many Canadians from business to private will reflect on their own data security and perhaps make a choice,” the Prime Minister said. Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters.
WATCH | TikTok disappointed Ottawa didn’t address specific concerns:
Since February 28, the Canadian government has banned TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices, citing security concerns over the app’s links to China.
Treasury Board President Mona Fortier said Canada’s Chief Information Officer has determined that TikTok “presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.”
“On mobile devices, TikTok’s data collection methods provide massive access to phone content,” Fortier said.
The app will be removed from the phone issued by the Canadian government on Tuesday.
The European Union’s executive branch said last week it had temporarily banned TikTok from phones used by employees as a cybersecurity measure.
Denmark’s parliament on Tuesday urged MPs and employees in the 179-member assembly not to have TikTok on their work phones. The assembly acted after an assessment from the Danish Cyber Security Centre, part of the country’s foreign intelligence service, which said there was a risk of espionage.
‘Political theatre’: TikTok spokesperson
TikTok has questioned the ban, saying it hasn’t been given a chance to answer questions and that the government is removing itself from a platform loved by millions.
The United States Congress passed the No TikTok in Government Devices Act in December as part of a government funding package. The law allows the use of TikTok in certain cases, including for national security, law enforcement and research purposes.
TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said on Friday: “TikTok’s ban on federal devices was passed in December without consultation, and unfortunately the approach has become a blueprint for the rest of the world’s governments. This ban is little more than political theater.”
TikTok is used by two-thirds of American teenagers, but there are concerns in Washington that China could use its legal and regulatory powers to obtain private user data or push influence operations in favor of China.
FBI Director Chris Wray testified late last year that there were even concerns that Beijing could control devices carrying the app.
“China’s fast-tracking program is the largest in the world, and they have stolen more American personal and business data than all other countries combined,” Wray said.
More than half of US states have also banned TikTok from government-issued mobile devices in recent months.
Some have also moved to apply the ban to any apps or websites owned by ByteDance Ltd., the private Chinese company that owns TikTok that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020.
Washington, Beijing are at odds on many issues
China has long blocked a long list of foreign social media platforms and messaging apps, including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Washington and Beijing are at odds over many issues including trade, computer chips and other technology, national security and Taiwan, along with the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon in the US and shot down earlier this month.
The US Government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a powerful national security body, in 2020 ordered ByteDance to divest TikTok over concerns that US user data could be transferred to the Chinese communist government.
In June 2021, President Joe Biden rescinded an executive order before Donald Trump that sought to ban such downloads and directed the Department of Commerce to review security concerns raised by the application.
House Republicans are expected to move forward Tuesday with a bill that would give Biden the power to ban TikTok nationwide. The law, proposed by Texas Rep. Mike McCaul, appeared to address challenges the administration will face in court if it moves forward with sanctions against social media companies.
If passed, the proposal would allow the administration to ban not only TikTok but software applications that threaten national security. McCaul has been a vocal critic of the app, saying it was used by the Chinese Communist Party to “manipulate and monitor users while it gobbles up Americans’ data to use for their nefarious activities.”
Democrats control the Senate, and have not closed the door on considering legislation. Democratic Senator Bob Menendez said there is a proposal that would give Biden the power to take action against TikTok, saying it is “definitely something to consider.”
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