Trump administration “looking into” ban on TikTok, other Chinese apps

Enlarge / A stand of TikTok (Douyin) at The First International Artificial Products Expo Hangzhou on October 18, 2019, in Hangzhou, China. (credit: Long Wei | VCG | Getty Images)

The Trump administration is considering banning Chinese social media apps inside the United States, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday. The ban would start with popular short-video platform TikTok.

"We're taking this very seriously. We're certainly looking at [TikTok]," Pompeo said during a televised interview with Fox News. He directly and explicitly linked the considered ban on TikTok and other apps to the administration's actions against other Chinese tech firms.

"We've worked on this very issue for a long time, whether it was the problems of having Huawei technology in your infrastructure, we've gone all over the world and we're making real progress getting that out," he said. "We declared ZTE a danger to American national security, we've done all of these things. With respect to the Chinese apps on people's cell phones I can assure you the United States will get this one right. I don't want to get out in front of the president, but it's something we're looking at."

Read 12 remaining paragraphs | Comments