TikTok responds to the US government: "We are not going anywhere"

Vanessa Pappas, general manager of TikTok in the United States, expressed that the section of the Chinese social network that she directs "doesn't plan on going anywhere" and will be in America "for the long term."

"I want to thank the thousands of Americans who use Tik Tok every day. We appreciate the support, we want to say "thank you" and that We don't plan to go anywhere", he expressed in a video using his app and published on the account of the company's American division on Twitter.

In his statements this weekend, Pappas responded to threats from President Donald Trump, who said Friday he will take action to ban TikTok, since the popular video application is a problem for national security.

“We are banning them in the United States,” Trump said to journalists from Air Force One. The president assured that he can use his economic powers in emergency situations or an executive order to prohibit the use of Tik Tok. He also stressed that he is against the possible purchase of the app by an American company.

For his part, Pappas indicated that his employees are working to offer "the most secure application" and that they know that "it is the right thing to do."

TikTok emerged in 2017, it is the international version of the Douyin platform and belongs to the Chinese company ByteDance. It has nearly 800 million users outside the Asian giant and in a short time it has become one of the most popular social networks in the world.

Facebook and Snapchat see it as a competitive threat, especially for its ease of use and for being fun content, characteristics that make it position itself better and better.

Pappas in his video highlighted that TikTok is the home for creators and artists to express their ideas and connect with people from different backgrounds. However, one of the accusations that weighs on the company is that it censors videos and gives access to personal data of its American users to the Chinese government.

The US armed forces have prohibited their employees from installing TikTok on government-issued phones. The national security concerns are accompanied by other US actions against Chinese companies, including telecommunications providers Huawei and ZTE.

Several Republican senators on Sunday gave their support to a plan for the Chinese company ByeDance abandons TikTok operations in the United States.

John Cornyn, a Republican senator from Texas, said on Twitter that a divestment "and a purchase by an American company is pure profit".

Additionally, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin agrees that TikTok cannot remain in its current format because it risks sending information about 100 million Americans. "The company represents a national security risk due to the number of personal data that you handle.