China on Friday stated it can comply with its personal legal guidelines and “firmly oppose” any “forced” sale of TikTok within the US.
“The sale or divestiture of TikTok involves technology export, which must be subject to administrative licensing procedures in accordance with Chinese laws, and the Chinese government will make a decision in accordance with laws,” stated Shu Jueting, a spokeswoman for Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).
Beijing’s feedback got here a day after Chinese-based fashionable social media app TikTok might face a full ban within the U.S. as its CEO Shou Chew testified Thursday earlier than the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee.
Chew was grilled by American lawmakers about many practices of the app, from potential nationwide safety dangers for the U.S. to information mining, customers’ psychological well being comparable to dependancy, melancholy, and anxiousness, particularly amongst kids and youngsters.
“Forcing a sale of TikTok will seriously damage the confidence of investors from all over the world, including China, to invest in the U.S.,” stated Shu of the MOFCOM, in response to the Chinese public broadcaster CGTN.
“If the news is true, China will firmly oppose it,” she added. TikTok has a worldwide affect with greater than 1 billion month-to-month energetic customers. Together with its Chinese model Douyin, each variations of the app have over 2.5 billion day by day energetic customers on the earth.
Mao Ning, the spokeswoman of China’s Foreign Ministry, advised reporters in Beijing that Beijing “never has and never will ask firms or individuals to violate local laws to collect or provide data and information stored within other countries’ borders.”
She known as for an finish to “unreasonable crackdown on foreign firms.”
Alleging that makes an attempt to ban TikTok are “driven by xenophobia,” Mao stated the Congress listening to is a “U.S.’ presumption of guilt against TikTok without any proof.”
Chew argued earlier than the U.S. Congress that majority of content material on TikTok is “fun, entertaining, informative and very positive for users,” including: “Other companies that operate in this country, we have to deal with some bad actors who come and publish some illegal drugs.”
“The TikTok user experience should be compared to other U.S. companies,” he added, noting that his dwelling nation Singapore has “almost no” unlawful drug content material as a result of it has very strict drug legal guidelines.
On the “concern” raised by Washington over possession points, the TikTok CEO stated: “I don’t think ownership is the issue here. With a lot of respect, American social companies don’t have a good track record with data privacy and user security. I mean, look at Facebook and Cambridge Analytica.”
“It is about making sure project access, making sure protecting, firewalling U.S. user data from foreign access,” Chew stated, suggesting third-party monitoring and “making sure that everybody is comfortable.”
Source: www.anews.com.tr
