US TikTok Ban Moves a Step Nearer, with Biden Given Approval to Rule on the App

Extra unhealthy information for TikTok, with the US Home International Affairs Committee in the present day voting to give President Joe Biden the energy to ban the Chinese-owned app, if he deems such a transfer crucial, amid ongoing safety discussions round its potential connection to the CCP.

The White Home has already introduced a full ban of TikTok on government-owned devices, following related strikes in over 30 US states. EU and Canadian officials have additionally adopted go well with, banning the app on all official units, as tensions between China and the west proceed to simmer, largely tied again to the Ukraine battle.

Earlier this month, the US ordered a Chinese balloon to be shot down, amid issues that it was getting used to spy on the US and Canada, whereas rumors of China’s continued support for Russia’s attacks on Ukraine have additionally put it on a collision course with western governments.

Inside this, TikTok has grow to be a greater focus. And whereas the app has been beneath CFIUS review for almost two years, discussions round its future at the moment are accelerating, which may see it banned outright in the US someday quickly.

TikTok responded to the information with this assertion:

At the moment’s announcement doesn’t give Biden the full inexperienced mild to ban the app, with the US Senate nonetheless required to give sign-off earlier than a ban may very well be applied. However it’s one other step in the direction of that subsequent stage, which more and more appears like it can lead to a TikTok ban, or at the least, a vital change in path for the app.

Former US President Donald Trump ordered TikTok to be sold to a US company in 2020, or face a full ban in the area. That possibility should be one other approach to go, which may finally see TikTok beneath new administration, as opposed to going darkish in the US.

However then once more, a lot now relies upon on China’s subsequent strikes, and whether or not it continues to conflict with the US.

The spy balloon incident appears like a turning level, of kinds, on this push, and it might be that relations between the two financial superpowers have now deteriorated to the level the place the US feels compelled to act.

Clearly, safety officers have main issues, and if that extends to authorities staff, it stands to cause that the identical logic may apply to common residents as properly.

We now await the subsequent steps.