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Ticking along

ON Friday, July 31, The President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced his intention to ban the Chinese social network TikTok in the country, which Washington views with suspicion for reasons of national security.

For those who don’t know what Tik Tok is, it is a social networking app that mostly shows short videos of children and many celebrities lip-synching to songs or creating some actually pretty good dance moves.

It is developed by ByteDance, based in Beijing and has achieved great success among the public, but at the same time, it is claimed to have raised great doubts about the security of user’s data and links with the Chinese Communist Party.

The tension between the US and China has increased in recent months fueled by the COVID pandemic, for which the two countries blame each other.

“As for TikTok, we are going to ban it in the United States,” Trump said in remarks to reporters, and added, “I have that authority. I can do it with an executive order.”

Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hinted that the Trump administration was considering restricting access to TikTok in the States given the possibility that Beijing is using the social network as a means to monitor and distribute propaganda.

After an hour of trying the app, this writer saw no evidence of any propaganda but quite a lot of funny pranks and families coming enjoying using it together.

Surely this is just another example of Trump’s huffy baby routine?

TikTok general manager in the United States, Vanessa Pappas, warned on Saturday that the Chinese network has no plans “to go anywhere,” in response to President Donald Trump’s announcement to veto it.

Pappas stated in her message that they are proud of the 1,500 workers they have in the USA and that they will create another 10,000 jobs over the next three years.

“We don’t plan to go anywhere. TikTok is home to creators and artists to express their ideas and connect with people from different backgrounds. We are proud of everyone who calls TikTok home.”