We have no reason to ban TikTok in Germany, says minister

BERLIN – Although the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok has come under growing political pressure in the United States, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has said that she sees no basis to ban the app in Germany.

A potential ban on TikTok, which is particularly popular with young people, is currently being discussed in the US.

Faeser, who is visiting the US, said that officials must be aware that TikTok is a company from which user data could be extracted and that oversight is necessary.

Faeser emphasized that great care is taken to identify state influence by China as early as possible.

Tiktok has more than a billion users worldwide and is widely used in both the US and Europe, where it is the only popular social media platform that is not based on the US.

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There is increasing concern in the US and Europe that Chinese authorities and secret services might use TikTok to collect information from users or to spread influence.

The company has rejected such allegations.

Faeser said general action is needed to avoid German economic dependence on Chinese suppliers or markets and to avoid state interference from China.

“We have just come from a strong dependence on Russia for energy supply. We don’t want to create more dependencies,” Faeser said.