 "TikTok US Ban: Lawmakers to move forward with bill banning TikTok, says House speaker McCarthy")
US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said lawmakers will press forward with legislation to handle national security concerns about TikTok, claiming China’s government had access to the short video app’s user data.
In the United States, there is increasing pressure to ban TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese firm ByteDance, or to approve bipartisan legislation giving President Joe Biden’s government the legal power to pursue a ban. The software was recently removed from devices controlled by the United States government.
TikTok Ban to be pushed through
“The House will be moving forward with legislation to protect Americans from the Chinese Communist Party’s technological tentacles,” McCarthy said on Twitter.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified in front of a U.S. House Committee on Thursday for about five hours, and legislators from both parties questioned him on national security and other issues concerning the app, which has 150 million American users.
**Also read: ‘Chinese govt doesn’t own the company’: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before US Congress amid ban threat**During Thursday’s congressional hearing, the TikTok CEO was questioned if the app had spied on Americans at the behest of Beijing, to which Chew replied, “No."
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View AllCEO of TikTok wasn’t honest, says US House Speaker
Republican Representative Neal Dunn then cited the company’s December revelation that some China-based ByteDance employees illegally obtained the TikTok user data of two journalists and were no longer employed by the business. He asked again whether ByteDance was eavesdropping on him.
“I don’t think spying is the right word for it,” Chew said. Before being cut off, he went on to characterise the allegations as involving a “internal investigation."
“It’s very concerning that the CEO of TikTok can’t be honest and admit what we already know to be true — China has access to TikTok user data,” McCarthy, a Republican, said in a statement on Sunday.
The business claims to have spent more than $1.5 billion on data security measures under the banner of “Project Texas,” which presently employs nearly 1,500 full-time workers and has a deal with Oracle Corp to keep TikTok’s US user data.
CEO’s appearance aggravated the situation
Chew’s appearance before Congress on Thursday “actually increased the likelihood that Congress will take some action,” Republican House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin told ABC News on Sunday.
Former US President Donald Trump was defeated in a succession of court decisions in 2020 when he attempted to outlaw TikTok and another Chinese-owned app, WeChat, a subsidiary of Tencent.
Many Democrats have expressed concerns along the lines of Republicans and believe that TikTok may be detrimental to national security, but have not yet openly supported a US-wide ban.
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