Last Updated on August 1, 2020, 9:26 AM AST by Anthony Morris
The President of America, Donald Trump, has said that he plans to ban the TikTok app in the United States by executive authority while he was flying home from Florida on Friday.
He said that they are banning TikTok from the United States.
TikTok app, which allows the users of the app to film and share short videos of themselves with music, is owned by a Chinese company named ByteDance.
The relationship of the app with China has caused lawmakers across both aisles and the Trump administration, to accuse the app of being a security threat to the United States.
Trump said that he would sign something by Saturday, without specifying if he was going to act through an executive order.
He called the decision “severance” and rejected the reported spinoff deal involving Microsoft buying TikTok firmly.
A TikTok spokesperson said that this is a fact that 100 million Americans come to TikTok for connection entertainment, especially during the time of the pandemic.
He added that the app had hired around 1,000 people to their U.S. team this year, and they are proud to be hiring another 10,000 employees into great paying jobs across the United States.
TikTok’s $1 billion creator fund supports the U.S. creators who are building livelihoods from the app. The U.S. user data is stored in the U.S., with strict controls on employee access to the data.
The biggest investors of the app come from the United States.
He said that the app is committed to protecting the privacy and safety of the users as it continues working to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on the app.
The app has around 65 million to 80 million users in the United States alone.
A New York City-based nonprofit advocacy organization, the American Civil Liberties Union, said that banning an app like TikTok is technologically impractical and a danger to free expression.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
