ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: Chinsed-based short-video-sharing app TikTok said on Monday that it now has 150 million monthly active users in the United States, up from 100 million in 2020 despite the fact that it is facing a prohibition challenge in several states.
The video-sharing app confirmed the figure ahead of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s testimony on Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
On Friday, six more United States senators backed bipartisan legislation to give President Biden new powers to prohibit TikTok in the US on national security grounds. Last week, TikTok said that the Biden administration demanded its Chinese owners divest their stake in the app, or it could face a United States ban.
TikTok faces ban in several US states over fear that the US users data could fall into the hands of China’s government. TikTok said in 2021 that it had more than 1 billion monthly users internationally.
Senate Intelligence Committee chair Mark Warner, who is cosponsoring legislation to give the Biden administration more powers to restrict TikTok, said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast that he didn’t think TikTok’s US data was safe.
“This notional idea the data can be made safe under (Chinese Communist Party) law, just does not, does not pass the smell test.”
Tik Tok stance
TikTok said it has spent 1.5 billion dollars on rigorous data security efforts, rejected spying allegations, and said, “if protecting national security is the objective, divestment does not solve the problem: a change in ownership wouldn’t impose any new restrictions on data flows or access
.”
The new figures indicate the app’s popularity, especially among younger Americans. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said there could be political ramifications to banning TikTok. She said, “the politician in me thinks you are gonna lose every voter under 35, forever.”
Some TikTok app content creators will come to Washington this week to explain why the app should not be banned.
