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Story: US-TikTok potential ban; 16-03-2023;
Biden administration wants TikTok's Chinese owners sale off their share or face US ban!
TikTok has more than 100 million US users, and is facing a threat of complete ban in the country from a long period now.
The Biden administration has threatened to ban TikTok from the United States unless the app’s Chinese owners agree to spin off their share of the social media platform, TikTok acknowledged Wednesday evening.
The apparent ultimatum by a US multiagency panel known as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) marks a possible turning point in the long-running negotiations between federal officials concerned about TikTok's links to China.
• The recent divestiture request was first reported Wednesday by the Wall Street Journal; TikTok later confirmed to CNN that CFIUS had contacted the company, adding that it did not dispute the Journal's report. But TikTok declined to discuss specifics of the US government's request, including details around its timing. "If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn't solve the problem," TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said in a statement.
"A change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access. The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, US-based protection of US user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing."
China reacted :
China said Thursday the United States was “unreasonably suppressing” TikTok and spreading “false information” about data security. “The US side has so far failed to produce evidence that Tik Tok threatens US national security” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing.
See top headlines for the day.TikTok is negotiating:
TikTok has been negotiating with CFIUS — a group composed of the Departments of Treasury, Justice, Homeland Security, Defense and Commerce, among others — for more than two years on a deal that might allow the app to continue operating in the US market in the face of security and privacy concerns.
US officials have raised fears that the Chinese government could use its national security laws to pressure TikTok or its Chinese parent ByteDance into handing over the personal information of TikTok’s US users, which might then benefit Chinese intelligence activities or influence campaigns.
The Treasury Department, which chairs CFIUS, declined to comment.
The talks with TikTok have stretched on without resolution, prompting criticism of the Biden administration by some US lawmakers who have pushed to ban the app through legislation.
Late last year, Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, legislation blocking TikTok from US government devices, following in the footsteps of numerous state governments. Since then, the European Union and Canada have also followed suit, reflecting growing suspicion among western governments to TikTok. But so far, there has been no evidence that the Chinese government has actually accessed TikTok user data, and no government has enacted a broader ban targeting TikTok on personal devices.