US President Joe Biden still supports bill to ban TikTok application
The US government continues to support the Restriction Act, which gives President Biden new powers to address foreign technology threats and allows him to ban the video-sharing app TikTok.
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| TikTok social network icon. (Photo: AFP/VNA) |
White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby confirmed on March 16 that the Biden administration continues to support a bill to address national security concerns about TikTok, a popular social media app owned by China's ByteDance Group.
Speaking at a virtual press conference, Mr. Kirby reaffirmed the US government's support for the bill, known as the Restriction Act, which would give President Biden new powers to address threats from foreign technology and could allow the administration to ban the video-sharing app TikTok.
The White House on March 7 called on the US Congress to quickly pass a bill proposed by senators, which would give the federal government new powers to ban TikTok - an app that currently attracts about 100 million users in the US.
Also on March 16, the UK announced a ban on installing TikTok on devices owned by state agencies and governments. This decision takes effect immediately.
In addition to the US and UK, several other countries such as Canada, Belgium and the European Commission (EC) have issued similar bans due to security concerns.
Responding to the above move, the Chinese Embassy in the UK issued a statement on the same day criticizing London's decision to "interfere with the normal operations of relevant companies in the UK and will ultimately only harm the interests of the UK itself"./.
