There’s growing pressure on the Biden administration to ban TikTok in the U.S. following reports that the Chinese-owned company is spying on citizens and journalists.
Fox News host Howard Kurtz said former President Donald Trump tried to get TikTok banned on international security concerns. At least 14 states have banned the app on state-issued devices.
“Let’s face it, this business about barring TikTok from government devices is just kind of a fig leaf to make it seem like the government is doing something because any government official can go home and use it (TikTok) on their personal iPhone,” said Kurtz.
Kurtz stated that one of the reasons the app will be difficult to ban is because of its popularity.
“When it comes to this talk about maybe banning the app, it is going to be difficult to completely and totally ban it, I would exercise some caution,” Kurtz said. “The Biden administration is slow-walking a solution but there’s a split within the administration in which some people that work for the president think that it’s too valuable as a messaging vehicle to just bar it from our shores.”
Kurtz added that the danger in attempting to regulate TikTok is that you run the risk of violating First Amendment rights.
“Imagine if you tried to regulate Twitter,” he said.
