It's no surprise that there's a bit of tension between the US and ByteDance, especially since the bill that would ban TikTok unless it opts for divestiture is now passed into law. To add to that, TikTok employees are not being questioned at the US border whether they were members of the Chinese Communist Party.
TikTok Employees Questioned at the US Border
TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have been accused of collecting US user data and sharing them with the Chinese government, which is the main point of the US ban bill that was recently passed into law. It appears that the suspicions extend to all the employees under the companies.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers are interrogating ByteDance and TikYok employees when they try to cross on their way to the US, asking questions regarding their ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
As mentioned in Business Insider, 30 employees coming from China have already been questioned, most of whom are Chinese. There's a dedicated list of questions that branch out from the suspicions of being part of the CCP.
Other than ties to the Chinese government, the employees are also asked what kind of access they have to American data under ByteDance and TikTok. They are also asked by the CBP about Project Texas, which is the security plan to separate US data from China.
The employees are also asked about their education and political ties. While this seems a little intrusive for some, it's an expected protocol especially now that the suspicions against the company collecting US user data have progressed to a looming ban.
A CBP spokesperson said: "CBP is tasked with protecting our nation's borders as well as enforcing numerous laws at our nation's ports of entry on behalf of a variety of other government agencies, including state and local law enforcement."
The agency representative added that all international travelers who are entering the United States through the border, even US citizens, are "subject to examination," although it's unlikely that they are questioned about their ties to the CCP as well.
Growing Tensions
Now that the ban bill has been passed by US President Joe Biden, ByteDance will have no choice but to divest or get the app banned from the country. The parent company already said it has no plans to sell TikTok to a US buyer.
According to CBS News, TikYok intends to fight the new law in court. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew even said that "the facts and the Constitution are on our side." This just shows that it will be a lengthy legal battle before the app is or isn't banned for good.
"The idea that we would give the Communist Party this much of a propaganda tool, as well as the ability to scrape 170 million Americans' personal data, it is a national security risk," Senator Mark Warner expressed.
Many people argue that the ban would violate the First Amendment, which points to freedom of speech. Others say that TikTok plays a vital role in their business, and a total ban would make a huge impact on the economy of small businesses operating within the app.
