TikTok's popularity poses a problem for those who wish to ban it. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee today amid intensifying calls in the White House and Congress for the U.S. to ban the video app. TikTok foes say that because it's owned by a Chinese parent company, ByteDance, it poses a national security threat.
Of course, no one has been able to fully articulate how this alleged threat works. There's a lot of vague hand waving about consumer data and grave warnings about the Chinese government—though what Chinese authorities would want or do with data on your average TikTok user, or how that would threaten national security, is unclear. (A plausible case may be made for disallowing use by government officials and guardians of state secrets, but that's about it.) Nor is there any indication that TikTok actually is sharing U.S. user data with the Chinese government—though people who suggest this often act like it's self-evident and they shouldn't need to proffer any proof.
