Mark Zuckerberg incited fears about TikTok in America: Report

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg raised concerns about TikTok with lawmakers in the US months before the Donald Trump administration started portraying the short video-sharing platform as a threat to national security, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Zuckerberg argued that TikTok, owned by Chinese unicorn ByteDance, is not committed to freedom of expression and represents a threat to the technological supremacy of the US, the report said on Sunday. In late October last year, Zuckerberg even took the opportunity to make a case against the rising Chinese Internet companies when the US President hosted a private dinner with the Facebook CEO at the White House, the WSJ report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Facebook CEO apparently argued that Washington should be more concerned about the Chinese Internet companies than reining in Facebook. Similar arguments were also made during his meeting with several senators following which the concerns were shared with other authorities and the government eventually started a national security review of the company.


When asked about WSJ report, White House Adviser Navarro said Zuckerberg has zero influence on trump administration’s TikTok policy.

Earlier this month, Trump issued an executive order that gives ByteDance an option to divest its Tik-Tok business in the US within 90 days.