The U.S. Senator says he still has concerns over the social media platform
Can the U.S. government ban TikTok?
That’s the question looming as the U.S. questions the data privacy risk the Chinese-owned app poses to Americans.
The follows the Tiktok CEO facing 4.5 hours of questioning at a U.S. Congressional hearing.
There was criticism of TikTok from Republicans and Democrats, and the level of distrust from all sides.
U.S. Senator Mark Warner says TikTok poses a national security threat.
“Clearly, while I appreciated Mr. (Shou) Chew’s testimony, he just couldn’t answer the basic question,” Warner told ‘State of the Union’ on CNN.
“At the end of the day, Tiktok is owned by a Chinese company Bytedance. And by Chinese law, that company has to be willing to turn over data to the Communist Party.
“Or one of my bigger fears, we got 150 million Americans on TikTok average of about 90 minutes a day, and how that channel could be used for propaganda purposes.”
Meanwhile, the National Security Council’s John Kirby agrees there are “valid” national security concerns about TikTok, but a full review needs to be completed before a ban is determined.
“The President’s already said, we absolutely have national security concerns about that application, and he’s banned it from government devices,” Kirby told ‘Face the Nation’ on CBS.
“We don’t want to get ahead of this review.
“We have endorsed the RESTRICT Act, pending legislation. We’d love to see that passed by the Congress so that the President can have additional tools and authorities,” Kirby concluded.
