President Trump to Ban TikTok in the US for allegedly links to Chinese Government

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US President Donald Trump’s administration and legislators have shown their fears of heavily famous video platform being used by Beijing for nefarious purposes. But the company has denied any links of TikTok to the Chinese government. Some media reports were circulated on Friday mentioning that President Trump would need the US operations of the app to be divested from its Chinese parent firm ByteDance. But, Trump has now announced a supposed Ban for TikTok in the United States. He was speaking to reporters on Air Force One and said, “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States”. Donald Trump also said he would take action as soon as Saturday using emergency economic power or executive order.

President Trump’s move came following a review by the CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment) in the United States, which investigates deals affecting the national security of the country. It is important that TikTok is more popular with young audiences who create and watch its short-form videos. The platform has an estimated billion users all around the world. A news outlet reported TikTok declined to comment on the reports of the forced sales. The company said, “We are confident in the long-term success of TikTok. Hundreds of millions of people come to TikTok for entertainment and connection, including our community of creators and artists who are building livelihoods from the platform”.

Point to be noted that the firm has pledged a high level of transparency during the last week, including allowing reviews of its algorithms to assure users and regulators. The CEO of TikTok Kevin Mayer wrote in a post and said, “We are not political, we do not accept political advertising and have no agenda. Our only objective is to remain a vibrant, dynamic platform for everyone to enjoy. TikTok has become the latest target, but we are not the enemy”. The head of the technology policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, James Lewis said he believes the security risk of using TikTok is Close to Zero, but that ByteDance could face pressure from China to engage in censorship.