The US Is Considering Banning TikTok

The United States is considering banning TikTok and other apps from China over national security concerns, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham in an interview on Monday. India — TikTok’s largest market outside China — banned nearly 60 Chinese apps including TikTok, following border clashes with the country.

When asked whether Americans should download TikTok on their phones, Pompeo said: “Only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.” Pompeo’s comments come at a time when tensions between the United States in the areas of trade, technology, and national security among others, are escalating. Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) declared Chinese telecom companies Huawei and ZTE as threats to national security and banned networks in the US from using federal funds to purchase equipment from them. TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance — one of the world’s most valuable companies — which was worth $100 billion in May, according to Business Insider. Over the last few years, the app has exploded in popularity with teens and young millennials in countries like India and the United States, clocking up more than 2 billion downloads earlier this year. It’s the first Chinese app that has successfully caught on in any significant way outside its home country. But TikTok’s popularity and its links with China have drawn scrutiny from around the world.