This week, the US and Canada issued measures to restrict the use of popular Chinese short video network TikTok.
The Canadian government reported that will prohibit the use of that platform on all official mobile deviceswhile the US, which approved a similar law already in December, announced Monday that public bodies have 30 days to remove that social network from federal devices and systems.
Washington went further. The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US House of Representatives. vote this Wednesday in favor of promoting a law that would facilitate the banning of TikTok throughout the United States, in addition to adopting restrictive measures against other economic activities related to China.
The Canadian government claimed that the decision is due to “an unacceptable level of risk for privacy and security. Meanwhile, US Republican Senator Josh Hawley express that “TikTok is a trojan horse of the Chinese Communist Party.” “It is a major security risk for the US, and until it is forced to completely cut ties with China, it has no place in government apparatus,” he declared.
North American nations are not the only ones that restrict the use of the platform.
Europe
Last week, the European Commission forbade the use of TikTok on the official devices of its employees. “This measure is intended to protect the Commission in the face of threats and actions against cybersecurity that can be used to carry out cyberattacks against the corporate environment of the Commission”, reads the release.
Asia
The Government of the India He decided ban a number of Chinese apps, including TikTok, as early as June 2020. Alibaba’s browser, UC Browser, Weibo, WeChat and Shareit, among others. The Indian authorities claimed to have received “many expressions of concern from citizens regarding data security and privacy risk in connection with the operation of certain applications”. Furthermore, they said that the move to ban these Chinese apps “will safeguard the interests of millions of Indian mobile and Internet users.”
The same year, the platform was prohibited in Pakistan. The Pakistani authorities considered that the social network failed to remove videos that they considered “immoral” and “indecent”.
For its part, the Government of Afghanistan advertisement last September that it would ban TikTok and the online multiplayer game PUBG for the next three months. Taliban movement spokesman Inamullah Samangani said the move was necessary to “prevent a younger generation from being fooled”.
taiwandespite being part of Chinese territory, also took last December measures to restrict the use of that social network. It was banned from installing and using TikTok, its Chinese version Douyin, and the Xiaohongshu social and lifestyle platform on public devices or in government offices.
The same month, the Government of Taiwan launched an investigation against ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, for alleged illegal business operations from one of its subsidiaries.
“TikTok represents a increased risk of information and national security what iQiyi [un proveedor chino de ‘streaming’]”said lawmaker Chiu Chi-wei of the Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party.
And other platforms do not collect data?
In the US, critics of the restriction on the use of TikTok argue that all social networks are dedicated to collecting data from their users. Thus, the activist group Fight for the Future created the Campaign ‘Don’t Ban TikTok’ with the aim of redirecting the attention of US legislators to the creation of data and privacy laws that apply to all the big tech companies.
For her part, Robyn Caplan, Principal Investigator at the Data and Society Research Institute, he claimed to The New York Times that “the general consensus of the privacy community is that TikTok collects a lot of data, but doesn’t clash with the amount of data other apps collect“.
“Banning Tik Tok in the US is banning the export of American culture and values”
Meanwhile, after the White House ordered federal employees to remove TikTok from official mobile devices, China accused US from abusing power and taking exaggerated measures. “The US Government should respect the principles of the market economy and fair competition, stop repressing companies and provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for foreign companies” in their territory, claimed the spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mao Ning.
For his part, from TikTok they responded that “banning TikTok in the US is banning the export of American culture and values to more than a billion people” who use the network. “We are disappointed to see this hasty legislation progress, despite its considerable negative impact on the rights of free speech for millions of Americans who use and love Tik Tok”, they indicated.
The Chinese daily Global Times writes that the restriction of the use of TikTok in the US is due to the fact that Washington “tries to maintain its economic hegemony by stifling innovative and competitive companies from other countries”. The outlet explains that the US does not have a competitive short-video platform like TikTok, and now “the US has been pushed into economic competition with Chinese Internet companies, but the US seems very restless and not very confident”.
According to the Global Times, this is why Washington “has to politicizing economic issues and abusing state power, unreasonably suppressing companies from China”, although this only shows their “economic incompetence”. “His efforts by him to generalize the concept of national security and abuse national power will not help the American economy and instead will will be an impediment to the healthy development of its digital economy“, reads the article.
Meanwhile, several US politicians also oppose the measure. Thus, Democratic US representative Gregory Meeks express that blocking TikTok will hurt “US loyalties” around the world, would “destroy jobs” in the US nation and “will undermine fundamental American values of free speech and free enterprise”.
In parallel, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sent a letter to the House Foreign Affairs Committee to protest the TikTok ban bill, alleging that the legislation would violate First Amendment rights to the Constitution. “Congress must not censor entire platforms and strip Americans of their constitutional right to freedom of expression“said Jenna Leventoff, the organization’s political adviser.
