US Next In Line To Ban TikTok, Other Chinese Apps

The U.S. is currently exploring the decision to ban TikTok and other popular Chinese social media apps hinted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday, July 6.

In an interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham, Pompeo said that the U.S. is “looking at” banning Chinese mobile applications such as TikTok and that the administration is considering the pros and cons “very seriously.”

"With respect to Chinese apps on people's cell phones, I can assure you the United States will get this one right too, Laura," he said during the interview. "I don't want to get out in front of the President [Donald Trump], but it's something we're looking at."

Pompeo further added that people should only consider downloading such apps on their mobile if they believe that they are okay with handing over their information to the Chinese Communist Party.

TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance. However, TikTok says that the data centers for the app are not located in China. In an earlier statement, the company said that the data centers for the U.S. are in the U.S. only, with a back-up center located in Singapore.

TikTok has been a craze among people in the U.S and elsewhere in the world. It became the first Chinese social media app to have gained popularity outside of the home country.

Pompeo’s remarks have come amid escalating tensions between China and the U.S. concerning everything from the coronavirus pandemic to trade and technology.

Recently, the TikTok application was banned by India, along with several other mobile applications in retaliation to the dispute across the Ladakh border in a Galawan valley. About 200 million people were already using the application in the country when the ban was announced.

Along with TikTok, several other Chinese mobile applications including CamScanner have been banned in India.

TikTok ban in India is said to have impacted many small artists and people from the villages who used to get to the platform for fame, joy and some income.