The US government should take action to ban TikTok rather than negotiate with the social media app, Brendan Carr, one of five commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission, told a local media outlet in an interview.
With more than 200 million downloads in the U.S. alone, the app’s immense popularity is concerning because ByteDance, a Chinese company, owns it. That means there’s potential for data on US residents to flow back to China.
However, the FCC has no power to ban TikTok directly, but Congress previously acted after Carr raised concerns regarding Chinese telecom firms, including Huawei.
TikTok is currently in negotiations with Council on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), a multi-agency government body charged with reviewing business deals involving foreign ownership, to determine whether it can be divested by ByteDance to an American firm and remain operational in the United States.
Earlier this year in September, the New York Times reported, that a deal was taking shape but not yet in its final form and that Department of Justice official Lisa Monaco was concerned the deal did not provide enough insulation from China.
"I don’t believe there is a path forward for anything other than a ban," Carr said, citing recent incidents regarding how TikTok and ByteDance managed American consumer's data. “Perhaps the deal CFIUS ends up cutting is an amazing, airtight deal, but at this point, I have a very, very difficult time looking at TikTok’s conduct thinking we’re going to cut a technical construct that they’re not going to find a way around.”
A few months ago, Carr sent letters to Apple and Google asking the tech giants to remove TikTok from their respective app stores. The commissioner is now calling for a nationwide ban despite the efforts made by both parties – the US government and TikTok – to come to an agreement.
“Commissioner Carr has no role in or direct knowledge of the confidential discussions with the US government related to TikTok and is not in a position to discuss what those negotiations entail” a TikTok spokesperson responded. “We are confident that we are on a path to reaching an agreement with the US government that will satisfy all reasonable national security concerns.”
For now, it’s still business as usual for a Chinese app in the US, though it may be a good idea for creators to have a backup plan in case of a ban. YouTube Shorts is a good option, and it pays better too.
