Washington, (EFE).- TikTok responded this Thursday to the United States Government and considered that making the Chinese company that owns the application sell its shares is not the solution, as the US Administration supposedly proposes.
In statements to EFE, TikTok sources argued that the “divestment” will not resolve US national security concerns regarding the app.
Various sectors of the United States, including the FBI and members of Congress, have expressed concern about the possibility that TikTok could be used by Beijing for espionage work, since the application is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.
TikTok points out that “worries are pointless”
China has security laws that could force tech companies to share data with its intelligence services, but TikTok and other companies argue those concerns are nonsense and have implemented various measures to protect their users’ data.
“If the objective is to protect national security, divestment does not solve the problem: a change of ownership would not impose new restrictions on data flows or access,” the aforementioned TikTok sources told EFE.
US media revealed this Wednesday night that the Joe Biden government has threatened ByteDance, owner of TikTok, to ban the social network throughout the United States if it does not sell the shares they have in the popular application.
The US Foreign Investment Committee is the one that would have given the ultimatum to the owners of the application, according to the media.
John Kirby, one of the White House spokesmen, refused to confirm this Thursday if ByteDance has indeed been asked to sell the shares it has in Tiktok.
Biden, concerned about the security of the application
Kirby recalled that Biden has repeatedly expressed concern about the security of TikTok.
In February, the president himself said that he does not have that application on his phone. In fact, the use of TikTok is prohibited on mobile devices used by government employees, including those used by the president.
Former US President Donald Trump (2017-2021) tried to impose a veto on the application, but after a long legal battle it did not materialize.
TikTok has about 100 million users in the United States and has become one of the most popular social networks in the world in a short time, especially among teenagers.
Its CEO, Shou Zi Chew, will appear next Thursday before the Committee on Commerce and Energy of the US House of Representatives to talk precisely about its privacy and data protection policy.