In early July, Mike Pompeo said that the United States could ban TikTok. (Representative)
Washington:
The White House said on Wednesday that a decision on Chinese mobile apps, including TikTok, could be made in a matter of weeks, not months.
“I don’t think there is a self-imposed deadline, but I think we are looking at weeks, not months,” said White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, to journalists aboard Air Force One, flying with President Donald Trump of Atlanta.
“There are a number of administration officials who are examining the risk to national security with regard to TikTok, WeChat and other applications that may be exposed to national security, particularly with regard to the collection information about American citizens from a foreign adversary, “said Meadows.
The decision to ban TikTok in the United States suddenly gained momentum after India’s decision in this regard last month.
“They (the Indians) decided that they were going to remove about fifty Chinese applications from the systems that operated inside India. They did not do so because the United States had told them to do so. They did it because they could see the threat to the Indian people from the Chinese Communist Party, “said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the Economic Club of New York during a virtual exchange.
The United States, he said, has worked closely with Indians in a wide range of the full range of international partnerships with them to help ensure that they have all the information they need. need to make good decisions.
At the beginning of this month, Pompeo announced that the United States could ban TikTok.
“I made a comment on TikTok. But first we have to get back to basics. The mission is to protect American national security. And in this case, informing American citizens,” he said. to The Hill newspaper in an interview.
“So, whether it’s TikTok or one of the other Chinese communication platforms, applications and infrastructures – this administration has taken seriously the requirement to protect the American people from having their information found between the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, “Pompeo told me.
According to Pompeo, the Trump administration is working through a process where all the agencies involved and the private sector manage to say their part. “We hope to have a set of decisions soon that will reflect this central understanding,” he said.
“We have been working on ZTE, we have been working on Huawei. We are pleased to see the UK announcing that it will remove Huawei technology from its telecommunications infrastructure. We have watched telecommunications companies worldwide from Orange. and others to say no, we understand, “said Pompeo.
“We want to make sure that our data only pass through trusted suppliers. This is the set of missions and it is certainly the set of missions with regard to the applications that our children can touch”, a- he added.
Similarly, the US House Credit Committee on Wednesday adopted a number of provisions, drafted by Congressman Tom Graves, to suppress foreign entities and state-owned enterprises seeking to steal data and personal information from US citizens.
“Today’s language was written in the midst of ongoing discussions about potential threats to the United States from companies like Huawei and TikTok,” said Graves.
“While taking steps to protect our networks, we must also ensure that the apps and platforms that we download to our personal devices are not linked to foreign governments with a history of bad deeds,” said the congressman.
