Published 13:21 IST, July 30th 2020
TikTok CEO slams Mark Zuckerberg and 'copycat' Facebook; says 'we aren't the enemy'
As the US lawmakers grilled the tech giants, TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer accused Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg of maligning its image & running 'copycat' apps
- Tech
- 3 min read
As US lawmakers grilled tech giants, TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer accused Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg of running a campaign in name of patriotism that actually aimed at maligning his video-sharing app. Before Zuckerberg testified in front of US Congress, Mayer had published a blog post in accusing the former of running 'maligning attacks' on TikTok, and slammed it on issues related to transparency, adding that Facebook should instead focus on amping up their 'accountability'.
Facebook's Instagram launched a feature called Reels within days of the TikTok ban in India. Criticising Facebook, Mayer said: "Facebook is even launching another copycat product, Reels after their other copycat Lasso failed quickly. On criticism of the company for allegedly sharing data with the Communist government of China, TikTok CEO said: "We have received even more… due to the company's Chinese origins. TikTok has become the latest target, but we are not the enemy".
On Wednesday, four big Tech CEOs -- Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google's Sundar Pichai, and Apple's Tim Cook -- faced the US Congress over their organizations' practices as the House caps its yearlong investigation on market dominance in the tech sector. According to the reports, four CEOs faced US lawmakers virtually in Washington and answered questions involving accusations, data scoop, and unfair market advantage.
TikTok faces heat
The Indian government has recently banned TikTok and other mobile application which have Chinese origin and has given them 3 weeks time to respond to security questions. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a TV interview earlier this month said that the Trump administration is certainly looking to ban the app. Pompeo said the government remained concerned about TikTok and referred to the administration's crackdown on Chinese telecom firms Huawei and ZTE. A U.S. national-security agency has been reviewing ByteDance's purchase of TikTok's precursor, Musical.ly. Moreover, Australia is also considering a ban on the TikTok app by Chinese developers over security concerns. Several Australian legislators have expressed their concern over privacy issues and the possibility of the Chinese government having access to users' data.
After suffering losses that could be as high as $6 billion due to the ban in India, TikTok also suspended its operations in Hong Kong. TikTok's parent ByteDance reportedly has taken the action in view of the Hong Kong National security law, which imposes Chinese laws in Hong Kong. Thus, companies in Hong Kong might have to share their information with China, thus undermining user privacy and security.
Updated 13:21 IST, July 30th 2020