Following in the footsteps of several Western powers - the United States, Canada and the European Union - the United Kingdom in turn banned the app on government devices.

In this battle where Washington invokes national security reasons to attack the platform of short videos, very popular with young people, Beijing has challenged the world's leading power to "provide evidence" of its allegations.

According to the Wall Street Journal and other American newspapers, the White House has issued an ultimatum: if TikTok remains in the fold of ByteDance, its parent company based in China, it will be banned in the United States.

TikTok confirmed to AFP that the US government had indeed recommended the transfer of the app by its owner.

Amid intense Beijing-Washington rivalry over trade and new technologies, many U.S. lawmakers and leaders say the app poses a threat to national security.

TikTok is accused by its critics of giving Chinese authorities access to user data from around the world, which the app strongly denies.

"The United States 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 Wenbin, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, said Thursday.

Washington "has so far not provided evidence that TikTok threatens the national security of the United States," he said in Beijing at a regular press conference.

The UK too

The White House has already banned officials from federal institutions to have the app on their smartphones, under a law signed into law in early January.

TikTok stores US user data on servers located in the United States. The app admitted that China-based employees had access to it, but within a strict and limited framework, and not the Chinese government.

"If the objective is to protect national security, a transfer does not solve the problem: (the fact that the application) changes ownership will not mean the imposition of new restrictions on the flow of data or access to it," responded a spokeswoman for TikTok, contacted by AFP.

"The best way to address national security concerns is to use the U.S. user data protection systems in the country, with strong oversight and third-party verification, which we are already putting in place," she added.

The European Commission and the Canadian government also recently banned the app on their civil servants' work devices.

In London, Minister of State Oliver Dowden announced Thursday a similar measure with "immediate effect" as a "precaution".

British Minister of State Oliver Dowden arrives at Downing Street in London, November 17, 2022 © JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP/Archives

"Given the particular risk around government devices, which may contain sensitive information, it is prudent and proportionate to restrict the use of certain applications," he told British MPs.

TikTok said it was "disappointed" by the UK decision, adding that it had "started implementing a comprehensive plan to further protect our European user data, which includes storing UK user data in our European data centres," according to a statement sent to AFP.

In front of YouTube

Chinese President Xi Jinping had condemned a few days ago the "policy of containment, encirclement and repression against China" put in place by "Western countries led by the United States".

Remarks made against the backdrop of American attacks against Chinese flagships of technologies such as the telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei. The United States also imposes restrictions on semiconductor exports to Chinese companies.

TikTok's popularity has exploded thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, far beyond teenagers. The app has more than 100 million users in the United States.

It has surpassed YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook in recent years in "time spent" by American adults on each platform, and is now close behind Netflix, according to Insider Intelligence.

The powerful American civil rights group ACLU has opposed bills against the app, in the name of freedom of expression.

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© 2023 AFP