President of the United States of America, Donald Trump has said he will ban video social media platform TikTok.
The Chinese video sharing and networking service is owned by a Beijing-based technology company. It was launched for the Chinese market in 2016, and then worldwide in 2018 after it merged with Musical.y. By October 2018, TikTik was the most downloaded app in the US and by 2019, it was the 7th most downloaded app of the decade.
On Friday night, Trump said he will ban the platform, refusing to consider an offer from Microsoft to buy the app from the Chinese parent company.
“As far as TikTok is concerned, we are banning them from the United States. I have the authority,” he said.
Trump was unable to explain under which legal vehicle he would be making the ban, or any of the legal challenges that it might face.The move comes after policymakers’ in the US said they think it could be a national security risk. Senators said that the app could be used by the Chinese Communist Party to carry out intelligence work. The company responded by saying that its data centres are located in Singapore, entirely outside of China.
