Washington, Mar. 3, (dpa/GNA) - Washington has again described Chinese social media app TikTok as a possible threat to national security.
The White House banned the social media app, owned by the private China-based company ByteDance, on government phones on Monday.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told a media briefing on Wednesday the app “poses a problem” and an issue.
“We have concerns about that as it relates to Americans’ data — collecting Americans’ data and the potential national security risk.”
A bill was introduced on Friday in the US House of Representatives that would allow President Joe Biden to ban TikTok across the country.
The Foreign Affairs Committee voted in favour of the bill on Wednesday, with committee chairman Michael McCaul stating the ban should go ahead.
“TikTok is a modern-day Trojan horse of the [Chinese Communist Party] used to surveil and exploit Americans’ personal information.”
The bill still needs to pass in the US Senate, as well as the rest of the House, before Biden can sign it off.
TikTok said in a post on Twitter that such a law would have a significant negative impact on the free speech rights of millions of Americans who used and loved the app.
Biden’s administration had previously announced that government agencies have 30 days to ensure that the video app is no longer used on service phones and other devices.
Beijing has criticized the US ban, accusing Washington of suppressing foreign companies.
GNA