The US government announced its intention to expand the so-called «sanctions list» against the People’s Republic of China. This time, the bans may affect for one of the international youth networks – TikTok.
As been noted in a White House statement, the network distributes information that may contain content that «encourages espionage and weapons proliferation». «Today, we do not have the possibility to exercise control over the operation of TikTok», – said a senior US administration official. «There are no guarantees that this platform does not spread anti-American and anti-Western propaganda, as well as the sale of weapons, ammunition and drugs». The day before, TikTok CEO Show Zi Chu testified on the matter during a special hearing in the US Congress. At the same time, the details of the corresponding meeting of the American supreme legislative body were not disclosed.
So what is actually happening? First of all, Washington fears that the security system of the Chinese social network will be controlled (or already controlled) by the special services of official Beijing. «Such a development of events will certainly cause serious damage to the «Сollective West», – political expert Jeffrey Pitters (USA) said in a commentary to EURO-ATLANTIC UKRAINE observer. «Against this background, the same West is simply trying to protect itself». Of particular note, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and France have previously restricted the use of the TikTok network to employees of their government agencies.
But here’s the thing – at the moment, not a single piece of evidence of illegal («spyware», «xenophobic» or other things) content has ever been made public. Moreover, according to Show Zi Chu himself, the Chinese company ByteDance, which owns TikTok, is registered in a free economic zone in the Cayman Islands and is not formally subject to the jurisdiction of the Chinese authorities. The management of ByteDance recalled that the founders of the network from China own only 20% of the shares of the structure.
Be that as it may, a few days ago, the US National Security Agency warned the world community that even the most minimal control of Beijing over TikTok threatens to launch China’s so-called “operations of influence” against the West. Thus, there is no doubt that further restrictive measures will be applied to this social network in general and China in particular in the nearest future.
