THE seemingly invincible global leader, the champion of democracy and media freedom, and a beacon of technological innovation, the United States is in its own words facing a serious threat. It is not a rival armed force or some novel, cutting-edge invention that is sending shivers down the American spine. It is a social media app called TikTok.

The recent vote in the American House of Representatives targeting the Chinese app (March 13) is disconcerting, dishear- tening and, quite frankly, concerning. It is particularly perplexing coming from a country that prides itself on being the torchbearer of democracy, and constantly lectures the world on the importance of media freedom and human rights.

The vote favouring a ban on TikTok came amidst claims that the harmless and relatively insignificant app poses a threat to US national security, under- mining its values and even its military prowess. The pressure on ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to sell the app within 180 days or face removal from online app stores has raised concerns internationally.

Social media activists, civil society organisations and pressure groups in the US are advocating in their respective spheres against the proposed ban. Under pressure for months, ByteDance has already made some gestures, such as a billion-dollar investment to have American user data stored by a third party within the US. The unsubstantiated prospect of Beijing-led opinion manipulation during the current US election year is giving the American administration sleepless nights, it seems.

The Chinese governmnet swiftly responded to the passage of the bill in the lower house of American Congress, calling it an act of aggressive interven-tionism, and accusing the US of going against the principles of fair competition and the norms of international trade.

While the proposed piece of legislation has been passed by the House, it still faces a hurdle in the Senate, where sanity might prevail. We should simply remember that, regardless of its brazen free-speech rhetoric, the US is the country that has been targeting the likes of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden.

Qamar Bashir
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2024