The United States has ordered federal agencies to remove the popular video sharing service TikTok from all government devices within 30 days. The ban follows similar actions recently ordered by governments in Canada, the European Union, Taiwan and more than half of American states. Congress voted in December to ban federal employees from using TikTok on government-owned devices. The vote was the latest legislative effort to restrict Chinese companies. Numerous politicians have accused TikTok of presenting national security risks to the U.S. Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have warned that TikTok’s owner, the Chinese company ByteDance, could be sharing user data with the government. More than two-thirds of American teenagers use TikTok. The app has grown in popularity because it can start new trends in many areas of pop culture. Critics have said ByteDance could be sharing huge amounts of private user data to China’s government. Some American lawmakers have also argued that China could use TikTok to spread misinformation. Legislators in the U.S. and Europe have also raised concerns about TikTok’s content and suggested it can harm young users’ mental health.
