China: The Chinese foreign ministry has stated that US government bans on Chinese-owned video sharing app TikTok reveal Washington’s own insecurities and are an abuse of state power.

“The US government has been stretching the concept of national security and abusing state power to suppress other countries’ companies. We firmly oppose those wrong actions. The US government should respect market economy and fair competition principles, stop suppressing companies, and provide an open, fair, and non-discriminatory environment for foreign companies in the US,” Ms. Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for the Chinese government, commented.

“How unsure of itself can the world’s top superpower like the US be to fear young people’s favourite app like that?” Ms. Ning added.

According to reports, TikTok is used by two-thirds of American teenagers. But the US fears that China could use its legal and regulatory powers to obtain private user data or to try to push misinformation or narratives favouring China.

The social media platform has been banned from government-issued mobile devices by Congress and more than half of the US states. Some have even moved to apply the ban to any app or website owned by ByteDance, the private Chinese company that owns TikTok and moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020.

Recently, Canada also announced it was joining the US in banning TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices. TikTok has questioned the bans, claiming it has not been given an opportunity to answer questions and that governments are banning a platform used by millions of people.

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