WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th July, 2020) President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the US government is thinking about imposing a ban on Chinese video-sharing application TikTok.
"We're looking at TikTok," Trump said when asked about possibly banning the Chinese application. "We are thinking about making a decision."
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said earlier in the day that the US government was carrying out a national security review on TikTok and that his department would advise Trump what, if any, action he should take against it later this week.
The move came just before CEOs from tech giants Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook began testifying before the House judiciary committee over antitrust issues.
"We're going to be watching the hearings today very closely. There is no question that what the big tech companies are doing is very bad," Trump added before jumping on a helicopter for a trip to Texas.
Earlier in July, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Trump administration was considering a ban on access to the TikTok application over privacy concerns. The social network claims user data is safe and not shared with Chinese authorities. Meanwhile, Beijing has called on Washington to stop using government mechanisms to pressure Chinese companies.
