The ubiquitous short-video app is caught in a worsening U.S.-China rivalry that has reached new ranges of mutual suspicion in latest months over allegations of espionage involving the app. The Biden administration, citing nationwide safety dangers, is pushing TikTok’s Chinese homeowners to promote their stakes within the firm. Beijing has mentioned it could oppose any compelled sale on the grounds that it includes an export of Chinese know-how that wants authorities approval.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning mentioned Friday that China “has not and will not ask companies or individuals to collect or provide data information and intelligence located in foreign countries for the Chinese government in a manner that violates local laws.”
“The U.S. government has so far provided no evidence that TikTok is a threat to U.S. national security but has repeatedly made presumptions of guilt and unreasonably suppressed the companies involved,” Mao mentioned.
TikTok’s mum or dad firm, ByteDance, has bristled on the notion of any potential divestment. And in Washington, senior administration officers doubt they’ve the authorized authority to ban TikTok — a transfer for which some are calling — with out an act of Congress, an individual with data of inner authorities discussions informed The Washington Post on the situation of anonymity.
On the microblogging web site Weibo, Chew drew sympathy from customers, who referred to as him a “lonely hero” and a “courageous gentleman,” applauding what they noticed as his grace beneath strain. (Many additionally hailed him for his beauty and pitied his unhealthy luck.) Others ridiculed American lawmakers and the polarized U.S. political setting.
“TikTok’s hearing shows that the two parties can find common ground — as long as they have the CEO of a social media platform to serve as their punching bag,” learn one widespread touch upon the microblog Weibo.
“Poor Shou Zi Chew. He’s really a sheep among wolves. Any excuse will serve a tyrant,” wrote Fan Yongpeng, the deputy director of the China Institute at Fudan University.
Chinese web customers deplored U.S. lawmakers’ aggressive questioning of Chew, saying they interrupted him and tried to catch him in verbal traps.
An editorial within the state-run Global Times mentioned the hearings made the United States appear to be a bully in entrance of the world. It criticized what it referred to as “political persecution” of TikTok and U.S. makes an attempt to “force it to pledge allegiance to the United States.”
The influential commentator and former Global Times editor Hu Xijin wrote {that a} U.S. ban on TikTok would trigger reputational injury to the United States akin to “detonating a nuclear bomb in Times Square.”
Still, Chinese censors and platform regulators tried to include the outrage on-line. Several hashtags concerning the TikTok listening to appeared to have been eliminated. Despite the heated dialogue on-line, no TikTok-related hashtags have been among the many prime 50 trending subjects on Weibo. One Weibo consumer complained that the movies posted about Chew had been deleted by the platform.
As issues about TikTok’s future within the United States mount, some Chinese e-commerce firms that had deliberate to do enterprise within the American market through TikTok are mentioned to be having second ideas. According to the Chinese tech-media outlet Huxiu, a number of have mentioned they’re turning their focus to Southeast Asia.
Some Chinese observers frightened that TikTok’s ordeal foreshadows what different Chinese firms working within the West quickly could face. Among the ten most downloaded apps on Apple’s App Store within the United States, 4 — together with TikTok — are Chinese-made. Those apps embrace the web market Temu, which is owned by China-based PDD holdings; the fast-fashion large Shein; and the video editor CapCut, additionally owned by ByteDance.
A report from the Fudan Development Institute that analyzed Twitter posts from U.S. lawmakers concluded many have been “using TikTok as a tool” to warn the American public about the specter of overseas interference in addition to “create a sense of crisis.”
The report concluded that if the present development continues, all components of American society will danger falling prey to Sinophobia.
“U.S.-China competition will only worsen,” it mentioned. “For Chinese companies going abroad, the difficulties encountered by TikTok may be just the beginning.”
Lyric Li in Seoul and Pei-Lin Wu in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.