The US government has begun a national security investigation into the Chinese company behind TikTok amid concerns that the social media app is hoovering up “massive amounts of data on Americans”.
TikTok lets users create sophisticated short videos of them lip-syncing and dancing to popular songs, as well as allowing them to release their own songs or short comedy skits. It has been downloaded more than a billion times worldwide, including an estimated four million times in the UK.
Marco Rubio, the Republican senator for Florida, said last night that he had asked the government to investigate TikTok and its Beijing-based owner, Bytedance, because “any platform owned by a company in China which collects massive amounts of data on Americans is a potential serious threat”.
He asked why TikTok “only had a few videos of the Hong Kong protests that have been dominating international headlines for months”.
TikTok has exploded in popularity in the US, especially among teenagers, since it bought and merged the American-made app Musical.ly two years ago. The app has been downloaded around 100 million times in the US.
The Committee on Foreign Investment, which reviews acquisitions by foreign companies for national security risks, has started to review the purchase of Musical.ly, according to Reuters. Government sources said that TikTok had not sought clearance for the deal.
TikTok has said that user data is stored in the US and that China does not have jurisdiction over content of the app. It added that it was is not influenced by any foreign government.
Elizabeth Denham, the UK information commissioner, told a parliamentary committee in July that the data watchdog was looking into how TikTok handled the safety and personal data of underage users.
A TikTok spokesman said: “While we cannot comment on ongoing regulatory processes, TikTok has made clear that we have no higher priority than earning the trust of users and regulators in the US. Part of that effort includes working with Congress and we are committed to doing so.”