The executive director of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, stated that a law enacted this Wednesday by the US president, Joe Biden, constitutes a ban on that social network in the country and maintained that the company will resort to justice.
«Make no mistake: this is a ban. “A ban on TikTok and a ban on you and your voice,” the executive launched in a post uploaded to the video platform itself.
«We will continue to fight for their rights in court. The facts and the Constitution are on our side and we hope to win,” added the CEO.
The US Senate on Tuesday adopted a bill requiring parent company ByteDance, a Chinese entertainment giant, to sell TikTok within 12 months. Otherwise, the platform will be excluded from smartphone app stores throughout the United States.
The initiative, which had previously been approved in the House of Representatives, was signed into law this Wednesday by President Biden.
“It is a disappointing moment but it will not necessarily be decisive,” said the director of the Chinese company. “It’s ironic because freedom of expression on TikTok reflects the same American values that make America a beacon of freedom,” he said.
TikTok has about 170 million users in the US country.
Privacy controversy
Many American political leaders believe that this application allows the Beijing government to collect private data to spy on and manipulate its users.
«When Americans think about the power, access, (technological) capabilities and control that TikTok has, they must ask themselves what they think about that power, that access, those capabilities and that control in the hands of TikTok’s parent company, and therefore the Chinese government and, ultimately, the Chinese intelligence services,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday on NBC.
“We have invested billions of dollars to protect your data and preserve our platform from outside manipulation,” counters Chew.
“This legislation is unconstitutional,” said Kate Ruane, from the American NGO Center for Democracy and Technology.
Even Elon Musk, owner of the social network ».
The text goes beyond TikTok, as it gives the president of the United States the power to designate other applications as threats to national security if they are controlled by a country considered hostile.
Problems in Europe
This Wednesday, in addition, TikTok suspended a program launched in France and Spain that included rewards for users and that had promoted an investigation by the European Union (EU) for suspicions of generating addiction.
In a message on
“TikTok always seeks to collaborate constructively with the Commission (the EU’s executive arm) and other regulators,” the message noted.
Last week, the European Commission had demanded explanations from TikTok about this program, due to suspicions of generating “addictive behavior”, and subsequently threatened to suspend the plan due to evidence of having been launched without a prior risk assessment.
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