TikTok A National Security Threat, India Set An Important Precedent With Ban: US Official

Lauding India for its decision to ban TikTok, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Brendan Carr has said that the country set an ‘important precedent’ with that decision.

“India’s strong leadership has been informative and helpful as we have debated banning TikTok in the US…For those who argue that there is no way to ban an app, India is an example of a country that has done it and done it successfully,” Carr told The Economic Times. 

Terming TikTok as a national security threat, the FCC Commissioner said that nothing short of a blanket ban, on the lines of India, would work. He also highlighted concerns that ‘all the sensitive and non-public data was going to Beijing’, adding that this data could be used for blackmail, espionage, foreign influence campaigns and surveillance.

While TikTok has been the current focus for the US government, it has also been looking at a ‘holistic approach like India’s to the overarching domain. The FCC Commissioner added that the US needs to follow India’s lead more broadly in the area to weed out ‘other nefarious apps’ as well.

The FCC is the nodal US agency to oversee law enforcement and regulation in the field of communications. 

India Takes The Lead 

TikTok was at the centre of the very first ban imposed by India on apps which originated in China or had Chinese connections. It all began in February 2020 when 59 apps were banned in total, including ShareIt and UC Browser. 

This was followed by many successive orders that saw imposition of bans on hundreds of Chinese apps. The bans were largely the result of a growing confrontation between India and China over border issues. 

The short-video platform is under regulatory scanner in the US after it reportedly admitted to spying on journalists in the US to get to their sources. Meanwhile, the US authorities have more or less ramped up plans to ban or restrict the usage of the app. 

“If you look at the history of TikTok’s malign data flows and its misleading representations, I don’t see a path forward for anything other than a blanket ban working,” said Carr while reiterating his point.

Concerns over TikTok also emerged in June last year after it was widely reported that the user data of the US-based users of the short-video platform was repeatedly accessed from within China. 

Besides, calls have also emerged from Australia and Taiwan to ban the short-video app.

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