Opposition voiced over possible ban on TikTok

WASHINGTON — TikTok creators and some US Democratic Party lawmakers on Wednesday said they opposed any potential ban on the short video-sharing app that is used by more than 150 million US citizens.

Representatives Jamaal Bowman, Mark Pocan and Robert Garcia and TikTok creators called at a news conference in Washington for broad-based privacy legislation that would address all large social media companies.

"Why the hysteria and the panic and the targeting of TikTok?" Bowman asked. "Let's do the right thing here — comprehensive social media reform as it relates to privacy and security."

Creators talked on Wednesday about posting videos of baking cakes or selling greeting cards to TikTok followers. Some held up signs saying TikTok benefits small businesses. TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance, says 5 million businesses use the app.

TikTok creator Jason Linton uses TikTok to share videos of his three adopted children in Oklahoma and has interacted with people around the world.

"I am asking our politicians — don't take away the community that we've all built — a community that lasts, that loves," Linton said at the news conference.

A group of teenagers, teachers and business owners rallied on Wednesday at the US Capitol to express their opposition to a potential ban.

"Are there other platforms out there? Absolutely — I'm on them. But none of them have the reach that TikTok has," aspiring soapmaking entrepreneur @countrylather2020 told her 70,000 followers in a video recorded after she arrived in Washington.

TikTok has announced it will spend $1.5 billion on a plan known as "Project Texas" to bolster data security in storing US-based user data on the servers of US tech company Oracle.

Fair environment urged

On March 16, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a daily news briefing: "The US has yet to prove with evidence that TikTok threatens its national security. It should stop spreading disinformation about data security, stop suppressing relevant companies, and provide an open, fair, just and nondiscriminatory environment for foreign businesses to invest and operate in the US."

On Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was expected to testify before the US House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Chew, a 40-year-old Singaporean who was appointed CEO in 2021, said in a TikTok video this week that the congressional hearing comes at a "pivotal moment" for the company, The Associated Press reported.

Chew said a TikTok ban would hurt the US economy and small US businesses that use the app to sell their products, while reducing competition in an "increasingly concentrated market".

Agencies Via Xinhua