Lawmakers in each the House and Senate had been transferring ahead with regulation that might give the Biden management extra energy to clamp down on TikTok.
WASHINGTON — TikTok was once dismissive Wednesday of stories that the Biden management was once calling for its Chinese owners to promote their stakes in the preferred video-sharing app, pronouncing one of these transfer would not assist offer protection to nationwide safety.
The corporate was once responding to a file in The Wall Street Journal that mentioned the Committee on Foreign Investment within the U.S., a part of the Treasury Department, was once threatening a U.S. ban at the app until its owners, Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., divested.
“If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access,” TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said. “The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, U.S.-based protection of U.S. user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing.”
The Journal file cited nameless “people familiar with the matter.” The Treasury Department and the White House’s National Security Council declined to remark.
Late ultimate month, the White House gave all federal businesses 30 days to wipe TikTok off all government devices.
The Office of Management and Budget known as the steering a “critical step forward in addressing the risks presented by the app to sensitive government data.” Some businesses, together with the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State, have already got restrictions in position. The White House already does no longer permit TikTok on its units.
Congress handed the “No TikTok on Government Devices Act” in December as a part of a sweeping executive investment package deal. The regulation does permit for TikTok use in positive instances, together with for nationwide safety, legislation enforcement and analysis functions.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in each the House and Senate had been transferring ahead with regulation that might give the Biden management extra energy to clamp down on TikTok.
Rep. Mike McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, has been a vocal critic of the app, pronouncing the Chinese Communist Party is the usage of it to “manipulate and monitor its users while it gobbles up Americans’ data to be used for their malign activities.”
“Anyone with TikTok downloaded on their device has given the CCP a backdoor to all their personal information. It’s a spy balloon into your phone,” the Texas Republican mentioned.
TikTok stays very fashionable and is utilized by two-thirds of teenagers within the U.S. But there’s expanding worry that Beijing may just download regulate of American consumer information that the app has received.
The corporate has been dismissive of the ban for federal units and has famous that it’s growing safety and information privateness plans as a part of the Biden management’s ongoing nationwide safety assessment.
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