A TikTok executive recently told the UK Parliament that while users’ personal data collected by the app can be remotely accessed in China, the company would never provide the data to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
However, it appears the reassurance has done little to ease the concerns around the social media giant and its Beijing-based, Cayman Islands-incorporated parent company ByteDance.
The UK’s Security Minister Tom Tugendhat on Tuesday said the Chinese regime, among other foreign states, has “considerable sway over the algorithms,” warning the app is a powerful tool to push false narratives.
Tom Tugendhat during the Conservative Party annual conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, England, on Oct. 3, 2022. (Jacob King/PA Media)
It comes as the U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to pass legislation aimed at banning TikTok on government devices, following a string of state-wide bans….