Social media: TikTok calls on US users to protest to MPs

TikTok warns its users in the USA of a possible ban on the video app and calls for protests. “Congress is planning a total ban on TikTok,” said a notification sent by the service on Thursday. There was a button on the display to call the representatives from the user’s respective electoral district. The Information portal reported that a parliamentarian’s office was so flooded with calls that staff had no choice but to switch off the phones.

With the warning, TikTok referred to a law that is currently being drafted in the US House of Representatives. The app has been criticized there because of its owner ByteDance’s China connections. The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee voted unanimously on Thursday to approve a bill that gives ByteDance six months to divest from the video app. Otherwise, TikTok risks being banned from the app stores in the USA , where the service claims to have 170 million users.

TikTok rejects criticism

TikTok is the only successful online platform in the West that does not come from the USA. There are concerns, especially in the USA, but also in Europe, that the app could be misused by Chinese authorities to collect information about users. Governments of several countries and the EU Commission banned the use of TikTok on work cell phones.

TikTok always rejects concerns and emphasizes that it does not see itself as a subsidiary of a Chinese company. ByteDance is 60 percent owned by Western investors. The company headquarters are on the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. Critics counter that the Chinese founders, with a share of 20 percent, maintained control thanks to higher voting rights and that ByteDance has a large headquarters in Beijing. US lawmakers often directly link TikTok to the Chinese Communist Party.

During his term as US President, Donald Trump tried to force a sale of TikTok’s US business to American investors with threats of a ban. But the plan failed because US courts suspected the plans for a TikTok ban to violate the freedom of speech enshrined in the US Constitution. This also affects a law in the state of Montana that was supposed to ban TikTok from the app stores there.

TikTok warns its users in the USA of a possible ban on the video app and calls for protests. “Congress is planning a total ban on TikTok,” said a notification sent by the service on Thursday. There was a button on the display to call the representatives from the user’s respective electoral district. The Information portal reported that a parliamentarian’s office was so flooded with calls that staff had no choice but to switch off the phones.

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