TikTok faces US national security review, Mnuchin says

WASHINGTON — A US government national security review of the social media app TikTok is nearly complete and will deliver a recommendation to the White House this week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says.

Mnuchin tells reporters the review is being conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which deals with companies and acquisitions affecting national security.

“TikTok is under CFIUS review and we’ll be making a recommendation to the president on it this week,” Mnuchin says. “We have lots of alternatives.”

The news comes amid increasing concerns voiced by US officials and lawmakers about TikTok’s links to China and its potential use for espionage — an allegation consistently dismissed by the company.

TikTok earlier today pushed back at what it called “maligning attacks” by Facebook and others that call attention to the video app’s Chinese connections.

TikTok chief executive Kevin Mayer said the attacks were “disguised as patriotism and designed to put an end to our very presence in the US.”

TikTok, which has grown its user base to an estimated one billion, has consistently denied any links to the Chinese government, as critics warn of potential security risks because of its Chinese-based parent firm ByteDance.

— AFP