China on Monday, January 20, urged the United States to hear “the voice of reason” regarding TikTok, as a law banning the popular application on American territory came into force. “We hope that the American side will listen to the voice of reason and provide an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for commercial entities from all countries operating in the United States,” said during a regular press briefing. Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“TikTok is an application very popular with American users and has been present for many years in the United States. It has played a positive role in promoting employment and stimulating consumption in the United States,” he said. she pointed out.
“We never asked to collect data”
China attaches “great importance to data confidentiality and security,” she also assured. “We have never asked and will never ask companies or individuals to collect or provide data located in foreign countries in a way that violates local laws,” Mao Ning said.
The social network was restored on Sunday in the United States, just a few hours after its suspension, a conclusion in the form of a political victory for American President-elect Donald Trump. A sign of the intact vitality of the platform with more than 170 million users in the United States, TikTok was immediately flooded with videos celebrating this return.
In a message posted on X (formerly Twitter), the group thanked the Republican for having assured internet service providers and application stores that they would escape the heavy penalties provided for by law. The law provides, in fact, for very heavy fines for these technical service providers, up to $5,000 per user for application stores.
Donald Trump wants to “save TikTok”
Earlier on Sunday, the future head of state committed to issuing a decree once invested on Monday to suspend the law banning TikTok on American soil. The text adopted in 2024 opens the possibility of postponing the implementation for 90 days while a buyer is found, an alternative offered to the parent company of TikTok, the Chinese ByteDance, in place of the ban.
“We must save TikTok,” Donald Trump proclaimed in Washington on Sunday during a final meeting before his inauguration. “We have no choice,” he insisted, referring to the “many jobs” at stake. “We do not want to give markets to China” or “to others,” he said. he declared. “We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution to keep TikTok in the United States,” the company explained.
Seized by TikTok as a last resort, the American Supreme Court unanimously refused on Friday to suspend the law. The nine senior judges considered that Congress’s concerns “in matters of national security” were “well-founded”.