📷 Image Credit: USA Today 👆
By: Dalvin Brown

TL;DR There is some speculation that the TikTok app might be collecting user data to harm the United States. TikTok might be banned in the United States due to the potential threat it poses.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the United States is considering banning TikTok due to concerns with Chinese surveillance. In an interview on Monday, Pompeo said this is an issue that the government is currently aware of and has been looking at for a while. He warned that Americans should be wary of downloading the app as they might be giving personal information to the Chinese government by doing so.

The concern stems from TikTok being owned by a Beijing-based company, which has previously stated that they don’t send information back to China. However, in December, the Navy warned military personnel against downloading the app on any military devices and urged anyone who had done so to quickly remove the app. The decision to make this announcement was based on a cybersecurity threat assessment but did not elaborate on the specifics of why they consider TikTok to be a potential threat.

Written by: Sofia Christensen, Intern

Edited by: Lisa Knight, COO & Mentor