TikTok is facing an uphill battle in the US, the government says the social media platform pose danger to children and the American society.
Recently the House Energy and Commerce Committee introduced a bill designed to pressure ByteDance into selling TikTok or face the ban the in the country.
According to tech insiders, the government want two things to happen from the ByteDance owned company, to separate the company from its Chinese ownership or force it out of the country. The US government accuses the social media platform for being an agent for the Chinese government.
“This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a total ban of TikTok in the United States,” TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek told TechCrunch in an emailed statement.
“The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression,” Haurek said, foreshadowing the massive public outcry that could result. “This will damage millions of businesses, deny artists an audience, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country.”
TikTok executive said, the allegations against the social media are far from the truth: “Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said last year during a separate hearing with the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
