The US Congress or Senate has made an equally big step in opposition to the clouded video app TikTok. In what might shake things up considerably, opponents of the app who are lawmakers have approved legislation that will require either ByteDance, the Chinese parent of TikTok, to sell its Saudi stake or let go with a nationwide ban.
The passing of this legislative bill is timely, given the emergence of security concerns regarding the fact that TikTok data collection practices may pose a national security threat and that it is suspected to have ties with the Chinese government. The issue was that the app was rumored to be a Beijing tool that could allow them to access personal data and apparently carry propaganda to millions of US users.
The bill, if passed, will send tremors across the entire tech industry, especially with the renewed privacy debate and other concerns regarding the footstep of global-owned platforms. Defenders refer to the measure as a way to ensure that America still leads in online matters despite the spread of malicious actors, while critics name it the forerunner of the new government incursion today.
As the law is now just being passed to floor votes for the House of Representatives, the act on TikTok’s future is tightly closed but not yet revealed. Will the business surrender to the requests for a shareholder resolution and transfer the U.S. heritage operations to a new parent? The question remains: will it be defeating or persistent in its surcharges? This will bring a bigger clash between the services that will continue evolving the business.
Therefore, this latest dramatic event shows how the United States and China’s stand-offs may deepen and expand to include the issues of technological leadership and security crossing the digital barrier.
