TikTok enlists army of lobbyists as suspicions over China ties grow

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has threatened to ban the app over surveillance concerns.

TikTok, the wildly popular social media app known for its viral dance and lip sync clips, has been embraced by millions of students, celebrities and young adults across the United States. But the company’s ties to China could cripple its existence.
TikTok, which is owned by the China-based ByteDance, has become the latest target in the Trump administration’s long simmering security and economic battle with Beijing. It is now desperately trying to convince lawmakers and administration officials that its allegiance lies with the United States, not China.

The social media company, which one year ago had virtually no lobbying presence in the nation’s capital, has hired a small army of more than 35 lobbyists to work on its behalf, including one with deep ties to President Trump.

Behind that buildup is a growing threat to one of TikTok’s most important markets. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has threatened to ban Chinese apps like TikTok, which are downloaded to mobile phones, over concerns they could be used for surveillance by the Chinese government. Peter Navarro, the White House trade adviser, called TikTok’s new chief executive an “American puppet” during a Fox Business interview on Sunday and said the administration would take “strong action” against the company and other Chinese social media apps.

A powerful US panel has opened a national security review into Bytedance’s 2018 purchase of Musical.ly, an app that was merged to form TikTok. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the US is examining whether the merged companies could give the Chinese government access to vast amounts of American data, including videos useful for training facial recognition software. And the Trump administration is weighing action against Chinese social media services like TikTok under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which allows the president to regulate international commerce in response to unusual and extraordinary threats, people familiar with the deliberations say.

Traders' body CAIT demands ban on China's Huawei, ZTE from India 5G rollout

The traders' body has written a letter in this regard to Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Sunday urged the government to not allow Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE to participate in 5G network rollout in India, raising concerns on data security.

The traders' body has written a letter in this regard to Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The 5G refers to the next-generation mobile networks that promise super-fast download speeds and the ability to support critical infrastructure and, therefore, is more critical from the point of accruing data, it said.

"We may like to mention that in several countries both Huawei and ZTE Corporation have been charged with a laundry list of crimes including conspiracy, money laundering, bank and wire fraud.

"We are sure that our above request will be considered by you and necessary decision will be taken to protect not only the security of the country but also the privacy of the people of India through data and as such both Huawei and ZTE Corporation will not be allowed to participate in 5G network rollout in India," CAIT said in the letter to Prasad.

E-mails sent by PTI to Huawei India and ZTE India did not elicit any response till the time of filing the story.

US Federal Communications Commission recently designated Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE as "national security threats", saying the major step was aimed at protecting American communications networks from security risks.

France won't ban Huawei, but encouraging 5G telcos to avoid it: Report

The US government has urged its allies to exclude the Chinese telecoms giant from the West's next-generation communications, saying Beijing could use it for spying. Huawei has denied the charges.

The head of the French cybersecurity agency ANSSI said there would not be a total ban on using equipment from Huawei in the rollout of the French 5G telecoms network, but that it was pushing French telcos to avoid switching to the Chinese company.

"What I can say is that there won't be a total ban," Guillaume Poupard told Les Echos newspaper in an interview. "(But) for operators that are not currently using Huawei, we are inciting them not to go for it."

The US government has urged its allies to exclude the Chinese telecoms giant from the West's next-generation communications, saying Beijing could use it for spying. Huawei has denied the charges.

Sources told Reuters in March France would not ban Huawei but would seek to keep it out of the core mobile network, which carries higher surveillance risks because it processes sensitive information such as customers' personal data.

France's decision over Huawei's equipment is crucial for two of the country's four telecoms operators, Bouygues Telecom and SFR, as about half of their current mobile network is made by the Chinese group.

"For those that are already using Huawei, we are delivering authorisations for durations that vary between three and eight years," Poupard said in the interview.

State-controlled Orange has already chosen Huawei's European rivals Nokia and Ericsson.

Poupard said that from next week, operators which have not received an explicit authorisation to use Huawei equipment for the 5G network can consider a non-response after the legal deadline as a rejection of their requests.