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TikTok creates new website and Twitter account to fight ‘misinformation’ about itself
As President Trump tries to ban viral video app TikTok from the United States, the company is fighting back.
Over the weekend the company created a Twitter Inc. account and today it launched its own website. The moves follow an executive order from the Trump administration stating that the Chinese-owned app will be banned in the U.S. if it’s not sold by parent company ByteDance Ltd. An acquisition could go ahead, according to the latest rumors, although it seems the app is currently digging in its heels.
“With rumors and misinformation about TikTok proliferating in Washington and in the media, let us set the record straight,” the company wrote on its website. “TikTok is not available in China. Its US user data is stored in Virginia with a back-up in Singapore and strict controls on employee access. TikTok has never provided any US user data to the Chinese government, nor would it do so if asked.”
On its Twitter account, TikTok said that it wants to “shine a light on the facts,” adding that the new information hub of the website is there to provide people with the opportunity for them to flourish creatively. Anything else, the company said, is “rumors and misinformation.”
As for the executive order, TikTok said it “undermines global businesses’ trust in the United States’ commitment to the rule of law, which has served as a magnet for investment and spurred decades of American economic growth.” It called the order a dangerous precedent to set, adding that if it is squeezed by the Trump administration, it will take its case to the U.S. courts.
In the website’s FAQ section, TikTok denies that it has ever shared any information with the Chinese and wouldn’t do if it were asked. That’s not what some U.S. senators believe. In 2019 some called the app a threat to national security.
Parts of the tech media disagree, or least have said that the evidence needs to be seen before any ban should happen. Others have gone as far as to say that a ban is a “gross abuse of power.”
Photo: Solen Feyissa/Flickr
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