Nearly half of U.S. adults support banning Chinese social media app TikTok, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll that also asked questions about national security concerns and China.
U.S. lawmakers have called for a nationwide ban on TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance and used by tens of millions of Americans, amid concerns about possible Chinese government influence.
Some 47 percent of respondents to the two-day poll, which ended on Tuesday, said they supported at least some level “a ban on the social media app TikTok in the United States,” while 36 percent opposed a ban and 17 percent opposed a ban. of people said they did not know.
The poll showed 58 percent of Republicans backing a ban, compared with 47 percent of Democrats.
The survey also showed Americans are deeply concerned about China’s global influence at a time when U.S.-China relations are at their lowest point in decades.
The Reuters/Ipsos online poll was conducted nationwide and collected responses from 1,005 adults, including 443 Democrats and 346 Republicans. Its confidence interval (a measure of precision) is approximately 4 percentage points in either direction.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said in March that the Chinese government could use TikTok to control software on millions of devices and push speech to divide Americans, adding that the app “screams” national security issues.
Other top U.S. intelligence officials, including CIA Director William Burns, have also said TikTok poses a threat.
TikTok said in a statement that more than 150 million Americans, including 5 million U.S. businesses, actively use TikTok to make a living, participate in classes and find community.
A TikTok spokesperson said: “We have taken unprecedented action to protect protected US user data, and we will continue to work hard to build a safe, secure and inclusive platform to ensure our users have a positive experience in every corner of the United States.”
Efforts to give the Biden administration new powers to ban TikTok have stalled in Congress. Last month, U.S. lawmakers said they were considering changes to address concerns about the bill.
Still, the issue is likely to become a focus of the Republican Party’s 2024 U.S. presidential race, with some candidates backing a TikTok ban.
In 2020, former President Donald Trump tried to ban new downloads of TikTok, but a series of court decisions prevented the ban from taking effect.
Florida Gov. and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said he favors some form of nationwide ban on the app.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from syndicated feeds.)
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