US president announces ban on TikTok

United States President Donald Trump has said that he plans to ban the social media app TikTok from the country. This is after American authorities raised concerns about the app being used as a took for Chinese intelligence.

US officials and lawmakers have raised fears that the popular video platform is being used by China for illegal purposes. The company has denied it has any links with the Chinese government.

There were reports that Trump wants the US operations of the app be delinked from its Chinese parent firm ByteDance. Instead the US president has announced a ban. He said, “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States.”

Trump’s move comes following a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS) in the United States, which investigates deals affecting US national security. TikTok is very popular among young audiences who shoot and watch the short-form videos on the platform. It has an estimated one billion users around the world.

In a statement TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer said the ban would not affect its popularity. “Hundreds of millions of people come to TikTok for entertainment and connection, including our community of creators and artists who are building livelihoods from the platform. We are not political, we do not accept political advertising and have no agenda – our only objective is to remain a vibrant, dynamic platform for everyone to enjoy”.