TikTok’s growth spurt early in the pandemic alarmed not only competing social networks but also the US government. Could the video sharing app, owned by Beijing’s ByteDance, be turning over the locations or personal interests of its nearly 100 million US users to the Chinese government? Could the Chinese government order TikTok to manipulate American minds spending hours flipping through clips? The app quickly became a convenient target for US officials sparring for attention and taking on China.
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