China’s video sharing platform, TikTok, is facing pressure from all sides. In addition to the United States, which has been restraining TikTok, Canada, Europe, and Japan have also recently issued government orders to ban TikTok. Why are Western countries pushing out TikTok, which appears to be a normal video application (app)?

On the 27th local time, the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) instructed all federal agencies to remove the Chinese video sharing platform, TikTok, from all devices and systems within 30 days. The Canadian government also decided to ban the use of TikTok on all registered devices from the 28th. The European Parliament also banned TikTok app use for all its employees on the same day. The Danish parliament also instructed all members and employees to delete the TikTok app installed on work devices.

The key reason these countries are banning TikTok is due to suspicions that TikTok excessively collects user information or collects personal information and hands it over to the Chinese government. The White House explained that this guideline was aimed at addressing TikTok’s threat to sensitive government data. Mike McCaul, Chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that “anyone who downloads TikTok has provided a backdoor for their personal information to the Chinese Communist Party.” The Canadian government also stated that the decision was based on internal reviews that TikTok’s data collection method could make users vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Another reason TikTok is under attack is due to controversy over the harmfulness of its content. In particular, there are growing concerns that TikTok can harm the mental health of sensitive teenagers. The “fainting challenge,” in which young people strangle themselves until they pass out, has gained popularity on TikTok, resulting in dozens of deaths of teenagers around the world. According to Pew Research Center, about two-thirds of American teenagers use TikTok.