ByteDance was founded in China and is incorporated in the Cayman Islands. They have repeatedly denied accusations of harvesting data for the Chinese government. And claims it stores Americans’ data in the U.S. and Singapore, not in China.
In response to the Senate bill’s advance, a TikTok spokesperson said that “millions of American families use TikTok for entertainment and creative expression, which we recognize is not what federal government devices are for.”
The company has “no higher priority than promoting a safe app experience that protects our users’ privacy,” the spokesperson said.
TikTok also faces a national security investigation for its 2017 $1 billion dollar purchase of Musical.ly. TikTok later merged the lip-syncing app to its technology.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters last week that the investigation should have results within weeks.
TikTok is a user sensation
Despite potential security risks, TikTok is currently one of the most popular apps among teenagers and young adults in the U.S. About 60% of its 26.5 million monthly active users in the United States fall into the 16 and 24 years old demographic.
