Last week, Us Secretary of State announced the US Government was looking at banning TikTok and other Chinese social media apps over concerns over how the companies are handling users private data

When asked in a follow up question if he’d recommend people not to download TikTok he said the only people who should download the app are those that wish to have their private data shared with the Chinese Communist Party.

TikTok, which has seen huge growth in the last couple of years, even more so during the recent coronavirus lockdown, is owned by a Chinese corporation, ByteDance.

The app has been downloaded over 2 billion times globally with around 65-75 million active users in the US.

However, recently, US lawmakers have been showing concern over possible security flaws within the app that allow the company to share users private content and data with the Chinese Government.

It was only a month or so ago that the Indian government chose to ban the TikTok app, alongside a further 58 Chinese apps they felt posed a danger to the security of India’s privacy data.

The move was welcomed by the former US ambassador to the United Nations who commented at the time to say "good to see India ban 59 popular apps owned by Chinese firms".

Current controversies around the popular video sharing app have elicited a strong response from ByteDance who insist they never have, nor ever would provide private user data to the Chinese Government.

They’re now taking steps to distance themselves from the Chinese market to appeal more to a global audience.

In fact, last week the company announced they’d be leaving the Honk Kong market after new laws there were enacted by the Government concerning information security.