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When some American users open up TikTok on Thursday forenoon , they were met with a full - screen subject matter encouraging them to call Congress and say no to a TikTok ban .
“ talk up now — before your politics undress 170 million Americans of their built-in right wing to liberal expression , ” the silver screen says . “ Let Congress know what TikTok means to you and secern them to vote NO . ”
Below the message , users can click a red “ call now ” clitoris .
TikTok has been under scrutiny in the United States for a while . Last year , TikTok chief operating officer Shou Zi Chew testified before Congress for five hour , handle lawgiver ’ business organization about Chinese sanction accessing American data ( TikTok , an American company , is have by ByteDance , a Formosan company ) . Chew has repeatedly say that TikTok and ByteDance are not conduits for the Chinese regime . There is no evidence that the Taiwanese government has get at Americans ’ TikTok user data , but in a separate incident , ByteDance employees were kindle forgaining access to the IP addressesof journalists totrack their location .
TikTok confirmed to TechCrunch that this message appeared for users 18 + in the United States , but based on our own testing , not all users in that demographic received the pop - up .
The platform has antecedently tapped its community of interests to sustain its battle in Congress . When Chew made his first appearance in Congress last year , TikTok invited a chemical group of creators , include Vitus Spehar ( UnderTheDeskNews ) , to go to D.C. to lobby on the app ’s behalf .
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“ Congress made clear that they do n’t see TikTok , they do n’t listen to their constituents who are in the community of TikTokers — and are using this TikTok hysterical neurosis as a agency to pass legislation that gives them superpowers to banish any app they deem ‘ insecure ’ in the futurity , ” Spehar told TechCrunch at the time .
What ’s proceed on with the TikTok forbidding ?
