Tiktok ban is intimidation tactic, will turn against US: China

China said Wednesday that the ban against social media application TikTok by the United States would backfire, as Washington votes on a bill that would force the platform to divest from its Chinese ownership.

If the project is approved by the US House of Representatives and Senate, ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, would have 180 days to sell the application if it does not want to be banned in the country, where it claims to have about 150 million monthly active users.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin accused the US in a press conference of adopting intimidation tactics instead of “competing fairly” and of “never finding evidence that TikTok threatens its national security.”

Wang said the US’ behavior “disrupts normal commercial operations, damages the confidence of international investors in the investment environment and destroys the international economic and trade order,” adding that move would backfire.

A report from the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence said China used TikTok accounts to harm candidates from both the Democratic and Republican Parties during the 2022 elections. Democrats performed better than expected by retaining the Senate and losing the Lower House by a few seats.

The report said the China could try to influence the November elections, in which President Joe Biden will face his predecessor Donald Trump.

Some critics have accused Bytedance of having ties to the ruling Chinese Communist Party, although TikTok denies allegations of this type, ensuring that it does not censor content or give the Chinese government access to its data.

Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi criticized the US for continuing with “tactics to repress China,” despite the thaw experienced in recent months in relations between both powers.