The popular TikTok app was among 59 Chinese apps banned by India on Monday.
New Delhi:
India’s ban on 59 Chinese apps, including the popular TikTok app, has been widely noted in the United States, including by some prominent lawmakers, who have urged the U.S. government to follow suit as it is widely admitted that the short video sharing app is a major risk to the security of the country.
India on Monday banned 59 apps with Chinese links, including TikTok and UC Browser, saying they were detrimental to the country’s sovereignty, integrity and security.
The ban, which comes in the context of India’s current deadlock along the real line of control in Ladakh with Chinese troops, also applies to WeChat and Bigo Live.
“India is banning TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps after a deadly clash,” powerful Republican senator John Cornyn said in a tweet as he reported on the Washington Post.
Republican MP Rick Crawford tweeted that “TikTok must leave and it should have disappeared yesterday”.
Last week, US national security adviser Robert O’Brien said the Chinese government was using TikTok for its own purposes.
“On TikTok, a Chinese-owned social media platform with more than 40 million American users, probably many of your children and young colleagues, accounts criticizing the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) and the policies of Beijing are systematically suppressed or suppressed, “Mr. O’Brien said in his public remarks.
At least two bills are pending in the US Congress to ban federal government officials from using TikTok on their mobile phones, reflecting that such sentiment may gain momentum in the United States after the decision of the India.
“Would it be the same Chinese TikTok that was used to attend the Tulsa Rally?” tweeted Peter Navarro, assistant to the President for trade and manufacturing policy, as he reported on a New York Times report on India’s decision to ban these Chinese social media apps.
Fox News presenter Laura Ingraham urged the United States to do the same. “LEADING THE WAY, WHERE ARE THE UNITED STATES? India is banning dozens of Chinese apps, including TikTok,” she said in a tweet.
Author Gordon Chang said India has banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok. “Why can’t the United States do the same?” He asked.
According to Forbes, with the release of the new clipboard warning in the beta version of iOS 14, now with the developers, TikTok seems to have been caught using the clipboard in a rather extraordinary way.
“So it seems that TikTok did not stop this invasive practice in April as promised after all,” he said.
A proposed amendment to the “Moving Forward Act” in the US House of Representatives, debated this week, prohibits Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers from using the TikTok cell phone application.
Republican Senator Joshua David Hawley introduced legislation in April prohibiting federal employees from using the TikTok social media video app on government-issued devices.
“This is a necessary step to protect the security of the United States,” he said. Similar legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman Ken Buck.
“It (TikTok) is owned by a Chinese company that includes members of the Communist Party of China and is required by Chinese law to share user data with Beijing,” said Senator Hawley, chairman of the subcommittee. Senate Judiciary on Crime and Terrorism, during a recent congressional hearing.
“TikTok has admitted to sending user data to China. To put it bluntly, this is a major risk to the safety of the American people,” said Senator Hawley.
“What kind of data does TikTok collect when it runs on our phones? Much more than you think. Images, of course, that users post. But TikTok also collects information about the messages you send, on the apps you use – the other apps on your phone, “he said.
“It collects the sites you visit. It collects your search history. It collects your keystrokes. It collects your location data. It stores all of that and maybe much, much more. And I can tell you, as father of two small children who already have a lot of their friends on social networks even if they are quite young, I find this absolutely horrible. And we know that it is a risk for national security “, said the senator Howley.
According to Clyde Wallace, deputy deputy director of the Cyber Division at the FBI, where he oversees the operations of the Cyber Division and the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force, TikTok is an example of an application that the average citizen does not understand the implications of what’s behind and what data can come from an app like this is essentially controlled by a state-sponsored actor.
“I think it increases the bigger threat that China poses today that it’s a holistic societal approach to the United States. It’s not just the TikTok app. It’s the warehouses whether it’s here in the United States, owned by the Chinese, or within the Chinese borders where that information is stored, “said Clyde Wallace.
In a statement released on Tuesday, TikTok India director Nikhil Gandhi said the company, which has some 200 million subscribers in India, has not shared any information about its users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese government, and that it ranks first. importance to the privacy and integrity of users.
The list of Chinese applications banned by India also includes Helo, Likee, CamScanner, Vigo Video, Mi Video Call – Xiaomi, Clash of Kings as well as the electronic commerce platforms Club Factory and Shein.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
