China criticizes the US for banning government gadgets on TikTok

On Monday, the White House directed government agencies to remove the Chinese-owned app TikTok from federal devices within 30 days. This follows similar moves by Canada and the European Union in recent weeks. China’s foreign ministry accused the US of abusing its power to suppress foreign firms and called for an open, fair, and non-discriminatory environment for foreign companies in the US. Meanwhile, Western officials are concerned about TikTok, which is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, and the possibility of data harvesting and exposure of sensitive information. However, Australia has not received any recommendation from its intelligence services to follow suit with the US, Canada, and the EU. TikTok has maintained that it operates no differently from other social media companies and that it would never comply with an order to transfer data. Some federal offices have already banned TikTok from their devices, and the US House of Representatives passed legislation in December banning the use of TikTok on state-issued phones. Congressional Republicans are also expected to pass further legislation that would give President Joe Biden the power to ban the app nationwide. Canada has also imposed a ban on the app on government devices, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau citing concerns about security around the app. The European Parliament also approved a ban on the app on staff phones, with a TikTok spokesperson calling the bans “political theatre.”

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