(New York) Already heavily criticized by Democrats and Republicans in the United States, a year of heightened tension begins after the passage of a law banning the popular video-sharing site TikTok from government employees’ devices.
The text, approved by US President Joe Biden last week, also bans the use of TikTok in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The increased weight in Congress of Republicans, who hold a majority in the House, risks further complicating the situation on the floor.
Elected conservatives allege that TikTok is actually a property of the Chinese company ByteDance, a tool for espionage or propaganda in the service of Beijing.
TikTok is the equivalent of “digital fentanyl,” said Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher, one of the leading anti-China voices in Congress, comparing the app to the drug responsible for many overdose deaths in the United States.
“It’s highly addictive and destructive, and we’re seeing disturbing data about the destructive impact of consistent social media use, especially among young American men and women,” he told NBC News.
“We have to ask ourselves whether we want to control the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on the brink of becoming the most powerful media group in the United States,” he added.
A spokesperson for TikTok, quoted in US media, formally denied the allegations and assured that CCP has “no direct or indirect control over ByteDance or TikTok”.
US federal law follows dozens of similar bans at the state or local level.
To have a chance of continuing to be recognized on all US smartphones, TikTok USA may need to separate from Byte Dance.
This is a wish already expressed by former President Donald Trump, who ordered the sale of TikTok’s operations in the US to US groups Oracle and Walmart. His successor, Joe Biden, took a less hard line after taking office.
But relations with TikTok soured significantly last month, when ByteDance had to admit that employees improperly accessed user data to track journalists to identify the source of media leaks.
TikTok rained criticism in the US and abroad. French President Emmanuel Macron has accused the Chinese social network of censoring content and encouraging online addiction among young people.
Try to agree
TikTok has been trying for months to find a long-term partnership with the US government through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
Sources familiar with the matter revealed that TikTok and the Biden administration are close to reaching an agreement that would provide stricter protections for US user data.
“The solution CFIUS is considering is a comprehensive set of measures with multiple levels of government and independent oversight…which goes beyond what any similar company does today,” TikTok spokeswoman Brooke Oberwetter told AFP.
But negotiations have stalled, especially since FBI Director Christopher Wray said he continues to view TikTok as a threat to US national security.
Last month, Mr. Ray warned”.
For its part, TikTok categorically denies that the Chinese government is exercising such influence.
