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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Technology
Staff and agencies

The TikTok wars – why the US and China are feuding over the app

In this photo illustration the social media application logo for TikTok is displayed on the screen of an iPhone in front of a US flag and Chinese flag background in Washington, DC, on March 16, 2023.
The committee on foreign investment in the US is threatening a ban on the app unless its Chinese owners divest their stake. Photograph: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images

TikTok is once again fending off claims that its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, would share user data from its popular video-sharing app with the Chinese government, or push propaganda and misinformation on its behalf.

China’s foreign ministry on Wednesday accused the US itself of spreading disinformation about TikTok’s potential security risks following a report in the Wall Street Journal that the committee on foreign investment in the US – part of the treasury department – was threatening a US ban on the app unless its Chinese owners divest their stake.

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