TikTok mulls moving its global headquarters to UK, according to a source. The company is reportedly considering it due to tensions between the UK and China.
A source familiar with TikTok and wanted to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the issue said that the Chinese-owned social media app has yet to decide where to build its international headquarters. According to TikTok, ByteDance was considering some factors that are not related to the political retaliation against Huawei.
“The U.K. is one of our most important markets globally, with a talented and diverse team in London, including senior leadership,” said a ByteDance representative.
“U.K. employees have quadrupled over the last year and we expect continued strong growth. We remain fully committed to investing in London.”
Western countries expressed concern that Beijing would use Chinese technology firms for espionage. Because of this, companies like Huawei are being investigated more than ever.
The UK had a major issue with Huawei, saying that the company’s telecoms equipment could not be used in the nation’s 5G mobile networks. Huawei has appealed to the UK to reconsider its decision, which came at a time that President Donald Trump was attacking certain Chinese companies.
Accusations against TikTok
TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer was accused of being an “American puppet” for working for a Chinese-owned social media app by White House trade advisor Peter Navarro.
“If TikTok, if it separates as an American company, that doesn’t help us because … we’re going to have to give China billions of dollars for the privilege of having TikTok operate on US soil,” Navarro said.
TikTok is now getting the attention of several governments. The app was accused of censoring political content and disclosing data to the Chinese Communist Party. The company says these allegations are not true.
TikTok announced earlier this month that it has deleted 29,000 coronavirus-related videos in Europe due to violations of the platform rules.
According to TikTok, it does not tolerate misinformation that will produce a negative impact on people’s health.
“Based on our analysis, our overall conclusion is that we have seen low levels of content that violated our Community Guidelines related to Covid-19 in Europe,” wrote Theo Bertram, TikTok’s European director of government relations and public policy in a blog post.
A security threat
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo previously that the US government plans to ban TikTok because it is deemed a security threat.
“What the American people have to understand is all the data that goes into those mobile apps that kids have so much fun with and seem so convenient, it goes right to servers in China, right to the Chinese military, the Chinese Communist Party, and the agencies that want to steal our intellectual property,” Navarro said.
Iain Duncan Smith, the former head of the U.K.’s Conservative Party, reportedly agrees to banning TikTok because of its proximity to “Chinese intelligence services.”
“There are real serious concerns, as big as with Huawei, over the role that they play. TikTok is the product of a company called ByteDance which has roots everywhere at the moment, a bit like Huawei. They’re growing like mad. Everybody is reviewing the company," he said.
Bob Seely, another Conservative MP, noted “very significant political and data privacy issues” with TikTok, according to The Times.
