Pompeo: U.S. ‘looking at’ banning Chinese social media apps, including TikTok

The United States government is “looking at” banning Chinese social media apps such as TikTok, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

Pompeo made the comment Monday during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.”

“With respect to Chinese apps on people’s cellphones, I can assure you the United States will get this one right too, Laura,” Pompeo said. “I don’t want to get out in front of the president, but it’s something we’re looking at.”

Pompeo warned that anyone who downloaded the app, which was downloaded more than 315 million times in the first three months of 2020, was handing over personal information to “the Chinese Communist Party.”

TikTok quickly refuted Pompeo’s assertions.

“TikTok is led by an American CEO, with hundreds of employees and key leaders across safety, security, product and public policy here in the U.S.,” a spokesperson said. “We have no higher priority than promoting a safe and secure app experience for our users. We have never provided user data to the Chinese government, nor would we do so if asked.”

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company, but the app has said previously that its data centers are located outside China and not subject to that country’s laws.

In response to Pompeo’s remarks, the stock prices of U.S. companies Twitter, Facebook and Snap, which owns Snapchat, went up.