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Reason why TikTok is being banned on govt phones

THE United States is ratcheting up national security concerns about TikTok, mandating that all federal employees delete the Chinese-owned social media application from government-issued mobile phones. Other governments are pursuing similar bans, citing espionage fears.

How serious is the threat?

Here's what to know:

HOW ARE THE U.S. AND OTHER GOVERNMENTS BLOCKING TIKTOK?

The White House on Monday said US federal agencies had 30 days to delete TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices.

Congress, the White House, US armed forces and more than half of the country's states had already banned TikTok amid concerns that its parent company, ByteDance, would give user data to the Chinese government, or push propaganda and misinformation on its behalf.

The European Union's executive branch temporarily banned TikTok from employee phones, and Denmark and Canada have announced similar efforts.

WHAT ARE THE CONCERNS ABOUT TIKTOK?

A law China implemented in 2017 requires companies to give the government personal data relevant to the country's national security.

There's no evidence that TikTok has done so, but these concerns were heightened in December when ByteDance said it fired four employees who accessed data on two journalists from Buzzfeed News and The Financial Times to track down the source of a leaked report about the company.

There is also concern about TikTok's content harming teenagers' mental health.

Researchers from the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate said in a report released in December that eating disorder content on the platform had amassed 13.2 billion views.

WHO HAS PUSHED FOR TIKTOK RESTRICTIONS?

In 2020, then-president Donald Trump and his administration sought to force ByteDance to sell its US assets and ban TikTok from app stores. Courts blocked his efforts, and President Joe Biden rescinded Trump's orders but instructed for an in-depth study of the issue.

In Congress, concern about the app is bipartisan, and it passed the "No TikTok on Government Devices Act" in December.

House Republicans were expected to move forward yesterday with a bill giving Biden the power to ban TikTok nationwide. However, a vote on the measure was delayed to today.

HOW RISKY IS TIKTOK?

It depends on who you ask.

Earlier this month at the policy institute Chatham House in London, US Deputy Attorney-General Lisa Monaco said: "I don't use TikTok, and I would not advise anyone to do so."

TikTok said in a blog post in June that it will route all data from US users to servers controlled by Oracle, a Silicon Valley company it chose as its US tech partner in 2020 in an effort to avoid a nationwide ban.

But the amount of information TikTok collects might not be so different from other social media sites. In an analysis published in 2021, the University of Toronto's nonprofit Citizen Lab said TikTok and Facebook collected similar amounts of user data, including device identifiers that can be used to track a user and other information that can piece together a user's behavior across different platforms.

WHAT ARE OTHER EXPERTS SAYING?

While the potential abuse of privacy by the Chinese government is concerning, "it's equally concerning that the US government, and many others already abuse and exploit data collected by US-based tech companies with the same data-harvesting practices", said Evan Greer, director of the nonprofit advocacy group Fight for the Future.

"If policymakers want to protect Americans, they should advocate for a basic privacy law that bans all companies from collecting so much sensitive data about us in the first place."

Others said there is legitimate reason for concern.

WHAT DOES TIKTOK SAY?

It's unclear how much the TikTok ban might impact the company.

The company has questioned the bans and said it had not been given an opportunity to answer inquiries and that governments were cutting themselves off from a platform beloved by millions.

TikTok chief executive officer Shou Zi Chew is set to testify next month before Congress.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will ask about the company's privacy and data-security practices, as well as its relationship with the Chinese government. AP

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