TikTok is not inclined to make it Chinese owners to divest their interest, saying such a move wouldn’t help protect United States national security.

The company was responding to a report in a US news daily that said the US Committee on Foreign Investment under the Treasury Department was threatening a US ban on TikTok unless its owners, Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., divested.

“If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access,” TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said.

“The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, U.S.-based protection of U.S. user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing,” she added.

TikTok was banned in all US federal government devices saying the app threatens the country’s national security.

CURRENTPH NEWS SERVICE