Advertisement

U.S. may ban TikTok over China link: Pompeo

The United States government is considering banning TikTok, the massively popular social media app, from use within its borders over concerns about its Chinese origin.

TikTok, which is particularly big with younger demographics, was created by a Chinese company.

On Fox News' Ingraham Angle show Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, without providing evidence, that it may share users' information with Beijing.

"Well, your viewers should know, we're taking this very seriously. We're certainly looking at it. We've worked on this very issue for a long time"

LAURE INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: "Would you recommend that people download that app on their phones -- tonight, tomorrow, anytime currently?"

"Only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party."

India has already banned TikTok and other Chinese social media platforms, although TikTok's company, ByteDance, says it has never provided any user data to China.

And while it's owned by a Chinese company, the app isn't available on mainland China, and it has sought to distance itself from its Chinese roots for global appeal.

TikTok has also emerged in recent months as a central social media platform for protest movements in the United States, including Black Lives Matter activists.

Meanwhile, TikTok's makers also announced on Tuesday they were withdrawing the app from the city of Hong Kong -- one of the latest big internet companies to suspend operations there in the wake of Beijing's sweeping new security law.

A source says the city was a loss-maker for the company with few users.