US which is locked in intractable trade war with China, has started giving serious thought to banning Chinese social media apps

After India banned the use of 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok and WeChat, the US is also planning to impose embargo on Chinese social media apps, a hint towards this was given by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

In an interview with Fox News, the US Secretary of State said on late Monday that the Trump administration was taking the issue very seriously.

“With the respect to Chinese apps on people’s cellphones, I can assure you the United States will get this one right,”Pompeo told the American tv news channel.

When he was asked whether he would recommend Americans to download TikTok or other Chinese social media apps to their phones, the US Secretary of State promptly replied, “Only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday in an email to The Washington Post, a TikTok spokesperson denied that the popular video-sharing giant, with hundreds of millions of users worldwide, is influenced by any foreign government.

“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. We have no higher priority than promoting a safe and secure app experience for our users,” the spokesperson said in an email. “We have never provided user data to the Chinese government, nor would we do so if asked.”

Read the article in detail in The Washington Post