Follow India’s lead to ban TikTok, other Chinese apps: US Congress members urge Trump

Members of US Congress have urged President Donald Trump to take decisive action to protect the privacy and safety of Americans, highlighting India’s “extraordinary step” to ban several Chinese apps including TikTok due to national security concerns. In a letter to the US President, 25 Congressmen and Congresswomen said that the systemic campaign to collect and illicitly transmit user data by the Chinese Communist Party for government's interests is not unique to Indian consumers.

“In fact, Chinese authorities currently enjoy relatively unrestricted access to U.S. consumer and government data through the country’s advanced data mining policies,” the letter read.

The House Representatives emphasised that the US should not trust TikTok or any other Chinese-affiliated social media websites or apps to ensure privacy and security of data of US citizens. They showed their support for Trump administration’s effort to restrict TikTok and other social media sites linked to the CCP from accessing the US markets.

“As such, we urge you to take strong action to stop the CCP's sophisticated espionage campaign against our country and protect our national security," the letter read.

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India bans Chinese apps

India recently banned 59 Chinese Apps, including TikTok, stating that it has received many complaints from various sources about the misuse of these apps. The Ministry of Home Affairs said that the apps were used to steal and surreptitiously transmit users’ data in an unauthorised manner to servers located outside India.

TikTok’s parent company Bytedance is reportedly planning to bring changes to its corporate structure, aimed at distancing the social networking service from China. According to a Bloomberg report, the growing concerns in the United States over the safety of the app due to its China connection has prompted executives to consider options to distance its operations from Beijing.

The House members further warned that the data collection practices by these popular apps coupled with China's cybersecurity laws to share user data with CCP authorities present a very real threat to US national security, urging the administration to take decisive action. They also expressed deep concerns over TikTok's censorship of user content to advance the CCP's foreign policy 

“Leaked documents detail instructions to ban videos on the app that mention Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence, or banned religious groups," the letter said.

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