China said on Wednesday that the ban on TikTok in the United States, which is the subject of a bill in the American House of Representatives, would amount to “shooting itself in the foot” for the world’s leading power. .
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TikTok has been in the crosshairs of American authorities for several months, with many officials believing that the short video application allows Beijing to spy on and manipulate its 170 million users in the United States, which the company fiercely denies .
The House of Representatives must vote on Wednesday on a bill that would force the application to cut all ties with its parent company ByteDance and more broadly with China, failing which it would be banned in the United States.
A few hours before the vote, China slammed a campaign of “intimidation” against TikTok.
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“The United States has never found evidence that TikTok threatens its national security,” underlined a spokesperson for Chinese diplomacy, Wang Wenbin, when questioned on the subject.
Banning TikTok “will undermine the confidence of international investors (…) which would amount to shooting itself in the foot for the United States,” the spokesperson warned during a regular press briefing.
Parliamentarians in the United States are concerned about the links between TikTok and Chinese authorities, seeing for American users a risk of seeing their personal data transferred to China.
On several occasions, the group has assured that it has not received any requests from the Chinese government in this regard and assured that, if necessary, it would refuse.
Despite suspicions in the United States, American President Joe Biden, campaigning for a second term, joined the TikTok application in February, very popular with young people and which allows him to reach potential voters.
