China on Thursday urged the United States to stop “unwarranted attacks” on the TikTok application after the American government asked its Chinese parent company to divest itself of it under threat of banning it for national security reasons.
According to the Wall Street Journal and other American dailies, the White House has issued an ultimatum: if TikTok stays in ByteDance’s ranks, it will be banned in the United States.
TikTok confirmed to AFP that the US government recommended transferring the application from its owner.
Washington “has not yet presented any evidence that TikTok threatens the national security of the United States,” Chinese diplomatic spokesman Wang Wenbin told the press on Wednesday.
“The United States should stop spreading false information on data security issues, stop unwarranted attacks [contre TikTok] and to create an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for foreign companies, the spokesman added.
TikTok has been accused by critics of giving Chinese authorities worldwide access to user data, which the short video app denies.
The White House has already banned federal agency officials from having the app on their smartphones, under legislation ratified in early January.
The European Commission and the Canadian government recently made similar decisions for their officials’ mobile phones.
TikTok stores US user data on servers located in the country. The application admitted that China-based employees had access, but under a strict and limited framework, and not the Chinese government.