ATfter chasing balloons, America goes to war against its teenagers. At least against their favorite social network, where you can learn the latest viral dance, how to wear your jeans or prepare accordion potatoes. TikTok, the flagship of Chinese soft power, is in Washington’s sights. Monday, February 27, the White House ordered the removal within thirty days of the application of all smartphones owned by US federal agencies. Already, in December 2022, President Joe Biden had banned its use on civil servants’ laptops.
For their part, parliamentarians are setting up commissions to try to ban the application on American soil. For Republican Mike Gallagher, Representative from Wisconsin and Chairman of the China Commission, “the same strategies, tactics and technology that the Chinese Communist Party uses to control its people are used to control Americans.”
Unlike the balloon war, the United States is not alone in this new battle. On February 23, the European Commission asked its officials to uninstall this application from their phones and Canada did the same on Monday 27. Why this sudden outburst against such a popular application, which today claims more than 1 billion users, of whom, according to AFP, a third are under 20? The conjunction of two major fears in Europe as in North America, invasions of privacy, a traditional concern of Europeans, and Chinese recruitment, which scares Mike Gallagher so much.
The will to fight Chinese claims is too strong
However, the CEO of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, had made the trip to Brussels in January, promising to “strengthening the security of user data in Europe”. In particular by installing local data storage centers to minimize flows outside Europe. Similar promises followed Donald Trump’s threat to ban the app in the United States in 2020.
Who will win the game, the teenagers who love the dynamism of this network, or the old parliamentarians from Washington, Ottawa or Brussels? It is however the only virtue of competition, so cherished by the Americans, which has built the success of the application.
Facebook and its subsidiaries Instagram and WhatsApp seemed unassailable. They have been shaken up in less than five years by this newcomer. But the will to fight Chinese claims is too strong. Decoupling is on. And TikTok will be the symbol. This will frustrate millions of young people (125 million in Europe), but it will be easier than going without battery cells, solar panel elements or refined lithium. All these products in which China dominates unchallenged.
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