‘Spy balloon in your phone’: growing calls to ban TikTok threaten its future

It is unclear how a US-wide ban on TikTok would be implemented and the bill provides few guidelines or limitations. Photograph: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images

The Chinese spy balloon that hovered over the US last month did not just damage relations between Beijing and Washington, it also cast a shadow over the future of TikTok.

Last week, a US congressional committee backed legislation that would give the US president the power to ban the Chinese-owned social video app. The Republican chair of the committee, Michael McCaul, said the incident had reinforced fears of Chinese state surveillance, describing TikTok as a “spy balloon in your phone”.