It’s Not Just TikTok. Chinese Firms Face More US Roadblocks
WiredMark Zuckerberg put his lungs on the line in March 2016. “These Chinese software companies doing business in the United States, whether it’s TikTok or WeChat, are feeding data directly to the Chinese Communist party, their national security apparatus,” Pompeo said. “Those are the issues that President Trump’s made clear we’re going to take care of.” Tencent’s WeChat, a social networking platform that supports mini-apps for payments, ecommerce and more, is ubiquitous in China but has just a few million users in the US, mostly Chinese expats or Westerners with contacts in Asia. “The question is, if a Chinese entertainment app like TikTok is being perceived as a national security threat by the United States, then what app developed by the Chinese is not?” Yun Sun, codirector, The Stimson Center Tencent’s US representatives have been quietly making the case that WeChat is not a threat. “The question is, if a Chinese entertainment app like TikTok is being perceived as a national security threat by the United States, then what app developed by the Chinese is not?” says Yun Sun, codirector of the Stimson Center, a Washington, DC, nonprofit that aims to foster international peace and stability.