- Threats and pressures have increased in recent days between China and the United States in a battle between Donald Trump and the TikTok application, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.
- The American president signed, on the night of August 6 to 7, a decree prohibiting, within 45 days, any transaction "of persons under American jurisdiction" with the Chinese parent company of TikTok.
- According to Washington, the application would be a spy tool for Chinese intelligence services, which the app has always denied.
Forty-five days. This is the deadline set by Donald Trump before prohibiting any transaction between the TikTok application - a global success belonging to a Chinese company - and an American company. A further push in a political and economic showdown that has been opposing the US president to China for several days.
If this decree, signed on the night of Thursday to Friday, does not specify the concrete consequences of such a decision for the millions of American users, it could however force Google and Apple to remove TikTok from their app stores, preventing , in fact, to use them in the United States. But what does Washington blame this social network for? Why this decision comes now, and how has China reacted to this announcement? 20 Minutes takes stock.
What is TikTok?
At the height of containment, this application that allows you to generate and share short videos exceeded the mark of two billion downloads worldwide. An “unparalleled” success for China, believes cybersecurity researcher Baptiste Robert: “With the instant messaging application WeChat [also targeted by the Trump administration], TikTok is the only Chinese application that is experiencing phenomenal success everywhere in the world and who has managed to break through outside the country's borders. Very popular among adolescents, TikTok is the variation of the application "Douyin", intended for the Chinese market. Both belong to the private group ByteDance, founded in Beijing in 2012.
What is the fault with the application?
For the White House, TikTok would represent a "threat" to the security of the country. After announcing his intention to "ban" the application of the United States at the beginning of the week, the American president signed on the night of August 6 to 7 a decree prohibiting any transaction between an American company and ByteDance within 45 days. . A way to increase the pressure while negotiations are underway between Microsoft and the Chinese parent company of the social network.
This decree signed overnight ensures that "TikTok automatically captures large swathes of information on its users (...), potentially allowing China to track government employees, collect personal files for the purpose of blackmail and practice industrial espionage ”. Accusations made without tangible proof, points out the hacker and cybersecurity researcher Baptiste Robert, who recently analyzed the data recovered by the application.
According to him, the use of data by TikTok does not differ from that of Instagram or Facebook, two American firms. Contacted by 20 Minutes, he explains: “If we look for example at the network requests made by the telephone when the application is installed - that is to say what TikTok is going to ask outside on the Internet and what 'it will take from your phone - nothing extraordinary can be found. The app retrieves a fingerprint of your phone with constituent parts of your device - IDs, your name, surname, whether you are on a wifi network or on a 4G network - but these are extremely common things. Is this good ? No, but this is not an exception ”.
On the other hand, the independent researcher admits: "The line which separates the Chinese government and the Chinese private companies is very blurred and the sharing of data between these companies and the authorities is a reality".
In what context does this decision intervene?
For the researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS) Antoine Bondaz, this decision is part of a long-term strategy undertaken by Donald Trump from the start of his mandate. “Since 2017, China has been presented as a threat by the US president. This decree comes in the context of an electoral campaign. Donald Trump is trying to differentiate himself from the Democrats and is trying to assert himself as the sole defender of American interests against China, ”analyzes the teacher at Sciences Po Paris.
But this showdown on the international ground would have another short-term advantage for the Republican candidate, believes Baptiste Robert: "This new episode between Donald Trump and China is a way for the American president to divert media attention and that Americans for its management of the Covid-19 epidemic, so far very strongly criticized. With 158,000 deaths recorded in the country since the start of the crisis, the United States appears as one of the countries most affected by the coronavirus.
How did China and the app react?
It only took Beijing a few hours to raise its voice. After the signing of the decree, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbin, accused the United States of carrying out "arbitrary political manipulation and repression," AFP reports. An argument that makes researcher Antoine Bondaz jump: "To hear China say that this decree undermines the freedom of expression and creation of Internet users, it goes beyond irony when we know that the majority of networks social are prohibited. However, this argument should not be used to justify the American decision to ban TikTok from the United States ”.
And the case could now go to court. In a statement released on Friday, TikTok has already warned: "We will use all means available to ensure that the rule of law is respected and that our business and our users receive fair treatment, if not. is with the American government, then with the American courts ”.
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