Lawmakers in the US have proposed a ban on TikTok.
The social media app – which is owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance – is facing a bipartisan bill that centres on concerns about US national security.
However, TikTok has hit out at the proposed move, calling it a “politically-motivated ban that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States”.
The company insisted that it’s committed to making the app as safe and secure as possible in the US.
TikTok added: “We will continue to brief members of Congress on the plans.”
Caitlin Chin, who works at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a think-tank in the US, thinks that the concerns about TikTok are about the app’s potential for possible abuse – rather than any actual evidence of it.
Speaking to the BBC, Caitlin added: “From a privacy standpoint, simply preventing a company like TikTok from operating doesn’t close the gaps.”
TikTok faced an effective ban in the US two years ago, when President Donald Trump issued an executive order. However, it was subsequently blocked by a judge, before being revoked by Joe Biden.
In 2020, meanwhile, ByteDance was ordered to sell TikTok by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. But according to the company, negotiations between the parties are ongoing.