London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 24, 2025

TikTok Could Be Tougher Target for Trump Administration

The Trump administration’s efforts to thwart a perceived security threat from video-sharing app TikTok faces challenges beyond those it faced when taking on other Chinese-owned businesses such as Huawei.




The Trump administration’s efforts to thwart a perceived security threat from video-sharing app TikTok faces challenges beyond those it faced when taking on other Chinese-owned businesses such as Huawei Technologies Co., in part because the U.S. has never blacklisted a wildly popular app.




The millions of Americans who have flocked to TikTok for amusement during the coronavirus lockdown pose just one of several possible hurdles, which is likely leading the Trump administration to move cautiously as it considers taking action, said Samm Sacks, a cybersecurity specialist at Washington-based think tank New America.

“They are trying to figure out how to thread the needle and avoid that backlash,” Ms. Sacks said.

U.S. officials say they are concerned that TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., could pass on the data it collects from Americans streaming videos to China’s authoritarian government. TikTok has said it would never do so. U.S. officials also are increasingly concerned about the risk of misinformation and Chinese propaganda being spread on the app.

The Trump administration has several tools at its disposal to hobble TikTok, including unwinding the cross-border merger that gave TikTok a big user base in the U.S.



Another possibility would be for President Trump to invoke his seldom-used international emergency economic powers to bar social-media apps with ties to foreign adversaries.

The administration also could seek to include TikTok under rules the Commerce Department is developing to ban the use and installation of foreign technology that threatens U.S. national security.

Yet another option would be to put the app on a so-called entity list, which the Commerce Department used to block U.S. companies from selling to Huawei. Unlike TikTok, however, Huawei never had a significant consumer market in the U.S.

Putting TikTok on the entity list—essentially an export black list—could force app providers such as Apple Inc.’s App Store and Google Play to drop TikTok from their offerings, and would likely be challenged, legal and cybersecurity specialists familiar with the issues say.

“Using export regulations may not actually legally apply to an app,” said Theresa Payton, former White House chief information officer under George W. Bush, who now runs a cybersecurity consulting firm. “Typically the U.S. uses it to bar companies from exporting key technology. Not sure they have jurisdiction or legal precedent to extend it to Apple and Google.”

Commerce Department officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

A TikTok spokesman said the company “won’t comment on specific theoretical options beyond saying that we are committed to ensuring the long-term success of TikTok in the U.S.”

TikTok parent ByteDance has recently considered changing the corporate structure of TikTok as it comes under scrutiny in the U.S. and elsewhere over its Chinese ties. TikTok also recently hired longtime Disney Co. executive Kevin Mayer, who is based in Los Angeles, as its CEO.

Best known for whimsical user-made dance and music videos, TikTok was second only to Zoom for downloads in the U.S. in the first half of 2020, according to market research firm Sensor Tower. The app has been downloaded more than 180 million times to date in the U.S. through Apple’s App Store and Google Play.

Any action against TikTok would likely further fray strained relations with China, but U.S. officials say Chinese-owned apps such as TikTok and Tencent Holdings Ltd. ’s multipurpose WeChat pose a risk through the data they soak up on American users.

“There are a number of administration officials who are looking at the national security risk as it relates to TikTok, WeChat and other apps that have the potential for national security exposure, specifically as it relates to the gathering of information on American citizens by a foreign adversary,” White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters recently. “I don’t think there’s any self-imposed deadline for action, but I think we are looking at weeks, not months.”

That is cheering some TikTok critics in Congress.

“I’m heartened by the tough tone” coming from the administration lately, said Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.), who has introduced several bills taking aim at TikTok, including one to prevent federal employees from using it. “This isn’t going to stop” without concerted government action, he said, referring to apps tied to foreign adversaries.

Adding to the concerns is the looming election season. Some lawmakers worry that TikTok could become a haven for political misinformation and Chinese propaganda.

Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign, meanwhile, has run recent ads on Facebook accusing TikTok of spying on its users. “TikTok has been caught red-handed by monitoring what is on your phone’s clipboard,” one ad said.

“We don’t want to be in the business of casually stripping away Americans’ rights to use apps they like, but we must take into account when a foreign authoritarian regime that suppresses free speech for its citizens uses malign and covert means to influence speech in free countries,” said Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in a statement.

Ms. Payton, who wrote “Manipulated: Inside the Cyberwar to Hijack Elections and Distort the Truth,” said TikTok’s young audience can be especially vulnerable to such misinformation.

“It could be a potential disaster for our presidential election cycle,” said Ms. Payton. “We used to socialize on our neighborhood square. Now with the pandemic this is our neighborhood square.”

Some are cautioning against the administration’s approach, however.

“TikTok is a potential security menace, but banning TikTok hardly confronts the profound threat China poses to our national security, economy, & democracy,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) tweeted recently.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, however, said on Fox News earlier this month that the administration is taking the perceived threat from TikTok seriously.

“With respect to Chinese apps on people’s cellphones, I can assure you the United States will get this one right,” he said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
China and Russia Deploy Seductive Espionage Networks to Infiltrate U.S. Tech Sector
Apple’s ‘iPhone Air’ Collapses After One Month — Another Major Misstep for the Tech Giant
Graham Potter Begins New Chapter as Sweden Head Coach on Short-Term Deal
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa Alleges Poison Plot via Chocolate and Jam
Lakestar to Halt External Fundraising as Investor in Revolut and Spotify
U.S. Innovation Ranking Under Scrutiny as China Leads Output Outputs but Ranks 10th
Three Men Arrested in London on Suspicion of Spying for Russia
Porsche Reverses EV Strategy as New CEO Bets on Petrol and Hybrids
Singapore’s Prime Minister Warns of ‘Messy’ Transition to Post-American Global Order
Andreessen Horowitz Sets Sights on Ten-Billion-Dollar Fund for Tech Surge
US Administration Under President Donald Trump Reportedly Lifts Ban on Ukraine’s Use of Storm Shadow Missiles Against Russia
‘Frightening’ First Night in Prison for Sarkozy: Inmates Riot and Shout ‘Little Nicolas’
White House Announces No Imminent Summit Between Trump and Putin
US and Qatar Warn EU of Trade and Energy Risks from Tough Climate Regulation
Apple Challenges EU Digital Markets Act Crackdown in Landmark Court Battle
Nicolas Sarkozy begins five-year prison term at La Santé in Paris
Japan stocks surge to record as Sanae Takaichi becomes Prime Minister
This Is How the 'Heist of the Century' Was Carried Out at the Louvre in Seven Minutes: France Humiliated as Crown with 2,000 Diamonds Vanishes
China Warns UK of ‘Consequences’ After Delay to London Embassy Approval
France’s Wealthy Shift Billions to Luxembourg and Switzerland Amid Tax and Political Turmoil
"Sniper Position": Observation Post Targeting 'Air Force One' Found Before Trump’s Arrival in Florida
Shouting Match at the White House: 'Trump Cursed, Threw Maps, and Told Zelensky – "Putin Will Destroy You"'
Windows’ Own ‘Siri’ Has Arrived: You Can Now Talk to Your Computer
Thailand and Singapore Investigate Cambodian-Based Prince Group as U.S. and U.K. Sanctions Unfold
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
Chinese Tech Giants Halt Stablecoin Launches After Beijing’s Regulatory Intervention
Manhattan Jury Holds BNP Paribas Liable for Enabling Sudanese Government Abuses
Trump Orders Immediate Release of Former Congressman George Santos After Commuting Prison Sentence
S&P Downgrades France’s Credit Rating, Citing Soaring Debt and Political Instability
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
Diane Keaton’s Cause of Death Revealed as Pneumonia, Family Confirms
Former Lostprophets Frontman Ian Watkins Stabbed to Death in British Prison
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Outsider, Heroine, Trailblazer: Diane Keaton Was Always a Little Strange — and Forever One of a Kind
Dramatic Development in the Death of 'Mango' Founder: Billionaire's Son Suspected of Murder
Two Years of Darkness: The Harrowing Testimonies of Israeli Hostages Emerging From Gaza Captivity
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
×