Will the survival of the popular Chinese application TikTok go through its resale to a foreign company? In any case, this is the message conveyed by the American administration. If TikTok were to remain under the thumb of its China-based parent company, ByteDance, it would be banned in the United States. This threat, revealed by the Wall Street Journal Wednesday, March 15, has since been confirmed to Agence France-Presse by the leaders of TikTok.
The warning comes in line with US pressure against a social network whose audiences – more than a billion active users – now challenge social media giants Facebook and Instagram. On March 7, two American senators, one Republican, John Thune, the other Democrat, Mark Warner, tabled a bill offering the Department of Commerce the means to thwart the rise of foreign technology companies specializing in information and communication. A device supported by the White House which primarily targets TikTok. Its boss, Shou Zi Chew, is due March 23 to testify before the US Congressional Energy and Commerce Committee.
Against the backdrop of technological competition with China, the United States suspects TikTok of being enslaved to the central power of Beijing, to which it would transmit the personal data of its more than 100 million American users. This fear is based on a 2017 Chinese law that forces Chinese companies and nationals to report to their government the data they have access to. Another subject of concern across the Atlantic, TikTok could be a vector of influence for the benefit of Beijing, as Facebook had been used by Russia to influence the American elections.
Host data locally
Washington has provided no evidence on what could constitute dangers to American national security. “The risk of espionage always remains possible, says Julien Nocetti, researcher at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI, specialist in the geopolitics of technologies). As for the risk of informational subversion, it concerns the longer term. » A case, however, tarnishes the credibility of TikTok: at the end of December 2022, Bytedance admitted that a handful of TikTok employees, since dismissed, had accessed the personal data of journalists with the intention of tracing their sources.
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