Trump to act on TikTok over ‘risks to US security’

President to ‘take care of’ Chinese software firms, insists Pompeo

US President Donald Trump plans to take action on what he sees as a broad array of national security risks presented by software connected to the Chinese Communist Party, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Mr Pompeo’s remarks followed reports Microsoft is in advanced talks to buy the US operations of TikTok, which has been a source of national security and censorship concerns for the Trump administration.

“These Chinese software companies doing business in the United States, whether it’s TikTok or WeChat – there are countless more... are feeding data directly to the Chinese Communist Party, their national security apparatus,” Mr Pompeo told the Fox News Channel.

“Could be their facial recognition patterns. It could be information about their residence, their phone numbers, their friends, who they’re connected to.

“Those – those are the issues that President Trump has made clear we’re going to take care of.”

TikTok’s US user data is stored in the US, with strict controls on employee access, and its biggest investors come from the US, the company said on Sunday.

“We are committed to protecting our users’ privacy and safety as we continue working to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform,” a TikTok spokesperson said.

Mr Trump had said he would soon ban TikTok in the United States.

A federal committee is reviewing whether that is possible, but its members agree TikTok cannot remain in the US in its current form, because it “risks sending back information on 100 million Americans”, said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

“We all agree there has to be a change... everybody agrees it can’t exist as it does,” Mr Mnuchin told ABC TV.

As speculation grew over a ban or sale of the social media’s US business, TikTok posted a video on Saturday saying: “We’re not planning on going anywhere.”

TikTok’s catchy videos and ease of use has made it popular, and it says it has tens of millions of users in the US and hundreds of millions globally.

The debate over TikTok parallels a broader US security crackdown on Chinese companies, including telecom providers Huawei and ZTE.

The Trump administration has ordered that the US stop buying equipment from those providers to be used in US networks.

Mr Trump has also tried to steer allies away from Huawei over concerns the Chinese government has access to its data, which Huawei denies.

Picture: AP. President Donald Trump has previously said he wants to ban TikTok in the United States.