Trump to act on TikTok and other Chinese software
The move is sparked by national security fears, and comes with Microsoft set to buy TikTok’s US operations.
US President Donald Trump plans to take action on a what he sees as a broad array of national security risks presented by software connected to the Chinese Communist Party, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday.
Mr Pompeo’s remarks followed reports Microsoft is in advanced talks to buy the US operations of TikTok, which has been a source of national security and censorship concerns for the Trump administration.
“These Chinese software companies doing business in the United States, whether it’s TikTok or WeChat — there are countless more … are feeding data directly to the Chinese Communist Party, their national security apparatus,” Mr Pompeo told the Fox News Channel.
TikTok’s US user data is stored in the US, with strict controls on employee access, and its biggest investors come from the US, the company said on Sunday.
“We are committed to protecting our users’ privacy and safety as we continue working to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform,” a TikTok spokesperson said.
Mr Trump had said on Friday he would soon ban TikTok in the United States.
“We all agree there has to be a change … everybody agrees it can’t exist as it does,” Mr Mnuchin told ABC TV.
As speculation grew over a ban or sale of the social media’s U.S. business, TikTok posted a video on Saturday saying: “We’re not planning on going anywhere.”
TikTok’s catchy videos and ease of use has made it popular, and it says it has tens of millions of users in the US and hundreds of millions globally.
But TikTok’s Chinese ownership has raised concern about the potential for sharing user data with Chinese officials as well as censorship of videos critical of the Chinese government.
TikTok says it does not censor videos and it would not give the Chinese government access to US user data.
“The President, when he makes his decision, will make sure that everything we have done drives us as close to zero risk for the American people,” Mr Pompeo said.
“That’s the mission set that he laid out for all of us when we get — we began to evaluate this now several months back. We’re closing in on a solution. And I think you will see the president’s announcement shortly.”
The Trump administration has ordered that the US stop buying equipment from those providers to be used in US networks.
Mr Trump has also tried to steer allies away from Huawei over concerns the Chinese government has access to its data, which Huawei denies.
