Ian Patrick, FISM News

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During an interview with Fox News, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo admitted that the U.S. government has been considering banning the popular social media app TikTok.

Fox News’ Laura Ingraham posed the question to him on her show The Ingraham Angle: “Shouldn’t we be considering – right now, tonight – a ban on Chinese social media apps, especially TikTok?”

Secretary Pompeo responded that the government has been “working on this issue for a long time” and that they are still working on it.

TikTok has been making many headlines lately.  A new National Security Law implemented by the Central Chinese government, which is aimed at sedition and secession, prompted the Chinese-owned company to withdraw from Hong Kong altogether.  Concerns of national security have also prompted other tech companies, such as Facebook and Google, to review or put a pause on their data-sharing cooperation with Hong Kong.

TikTok has been trying to distance itself from its ties with China, but tensions between Beijing and the United States have heightened skepticism.  TikTok has received allegations from U.S.-based companies that the social media app is retaining videos and information from users of the app ages 13 and younger.  The FTC and U.S. Justice Department are currently looking into these allegations.

During the interview, Secretary Pompeo mentioned Huawei and ZTE, companies that have been recently declared as national security threats.  He used these as examples of how the U.S. government has been handling Chinese threats, and he claimed that the issue with TikTok will be handled in the right way.