Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

TikTok is being reviewed by US national security panel CFIUS, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says

Trump administration acts on fears that the app’s user data could be subject to access requests by the Chinese government. TikTok’s CEO says the short-video platform has become ‘the latest target, but we are not the enemy’

TikTok, the hugely popular, Chinese-owned short-video platform, is undergoing a national security review by US federal regulators, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed on Wednesday.

Amid calls from American lawmakers for greater scrutiny of TikTok over fears that user data could be subject to access requests by the Chinese government, Mnuchin said his department would soon be suggesting possible action on the app to US President Donald Trump.

“TikTok is under CFIUS review and we’ll be making a recommendation to the president on it this week,” Mnuchin, standing alongside Trump, told reporters outside the White House. “So we have lots of alternatives.”

CFIUS, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, is a Treasury-led panel that assesses national security risks associated with certain transactions in the US involving foreign entities.

Last year, the panel ordered Grindr’s Chinese owners to sell the gay dating app over concerns about the security of personal data.

A platform for users to post and view short videos, TikTok is owned by Chinese tech company Bytedance, which also owns the app’s analogue in China, Douyin.

Faced with criticism that TikTok’s ownership by a Chinese parent company constitutes a national security risk, TikTok executives have emphasised that data is not stored in China and said that Chinese authorities do not have access to private information.

Those claims have done little to assuage the largely bipartisan concerns of US lawmakers, who recently approved legislation that would ban federal employees from using TikTok on government devices, a proposal that has been incorporated into the must-pass annual defence spending bill.

On Tuesday, a group of senators wrote to national security officials to request an investigation into whether TikTok was vulnerable to attempts by Beijing to conduct “influence operations” in the US, including potential efforts to sway the outcome of elections.

Asked on Wednesday how close he was to a decision to ban the app from the US market, Trump said that he was “looking at TikTok” and that his administration was “thinking about making a decision”.

TikTok declined to comment on the CFIUS review, but said in a statement that it was working “to develop a best-in-class security infrastructure, promote a safe and positive app experience and bring joy to millions of American families”.

In a Wednesday morning blog post published ahead of Trump and Mnuchin’s remarks, company CEO Kevin Mayer wrote that TikTok had become “the latest target, but we are not the enemy,” and stressed that the company was willing to take “all necessary steps” to ensure its long-term availability.

Mayer, who is also chief operating officer at Bytedance, acknowledged that TikTok was facing heightened scrutiny because of its Chinese origins, writing: “We accept this and embrace the challenge of giving peace of mind through greater transparency and accountability.”

Citing sources familiar with the matter, tech media outlet The Information reported last week that US-based investors in Bytedance were in discussions with company executives to buy a majority stake in TikTok, a move that would effectively push TikTok beyond the purview of CFIUS.

Tech represents just one of the numerous fronts causing heightened tensions between the US and China, with the Trump administration this month levying sanctions against employees of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei for providing “material support to regimes engaging in human rights violations”.

After the move, Huawei insisted that it operated entirely independently of the Chinese government, while Beijing accused Washington of “playing dirty tricks” and using “democracy and values as a cover to align its minions to smear, attack and repress” the company.

Sanctions against the company come atop the US administration’s efforts to extradite a top executive on bank fraud charges, and a sustained pressure campaign to persuade allies to exclude Huawei from their 5G networks.

“With respect to Chinese apps on people’s cellphones, I can assure you the United States will get this one right too,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News this month, referring to TikTok.

The prospect of US action against TikTok comes on the heels of a ban of the app by the Indian government, which included it on a blacklist of almost 60 Chinese apps after a deadly clash between troops on the India-China border.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×