China reacts strongly to US pressure on TikTok
American flag and Tik Tok logo at the 3D printer. REUTERS - Dado Ruvic
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The White House is again threatening to ban TikTok in the United States if the social network remains in the hands of its parent company in China. Threats in the name of national security that made Beijing react strongly this Thursday, March 16.
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With our correspondent in China, Stéphane Lagarde
For the second time since the beginning of the month, Chinese diplomacy is banging its fist on the table. And his spokesman has the face of bad days when he once again denounces what he considers "unjustified attacks".
Where is the evidence of a threat to U.S. security, Wang Wenbin told reporters? "The US should stop spreading false information on data security issues, stop unwarranted attacks (on TikTok) and provide an open, fair, fair and non-discriminatory business environment for foreign companies," Wang said.
Concern of the parent company of TikTok
These remarks betray a concern on the side of the Chinese government and ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok in China. The social network is accused by its critics in the United States of providing Chinese authorities with access to user data from around the world. What the favorite video sharing app of teens denies en bloc. A data problem that Washington and other Western governments have already banned their officials from having the app on their smartphones.
This fear of leaks related to artificial intelligence technologies is also widely shared on the Chinese side. For the same reason, Beijing has, for example, banned the entry of cars from the American manufacturer Tesla in some of its public buildings.
► Read also United States: federal agencies have thirty days to uninstall TikTok from their devices
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