Another social media CEO has expressed support for the proposed TikTok ban. However, this CEO also shared their concerns about the long-term implications once a single social media platform becomes a target by the government.
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel spoke about the TikTok ban during the Snap Partner Summit on Wednesday. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Spiegel is in support of a short-term ban. However, the CEO stated that there is a possible better solution to deal with national security rather than just banning the platform outright.
“We’d love that in the short term. I do think it is important for us to be thoughtful and really develop a regulatory framework to deal with national security concerns, especially around technology. And I think based on the information that is publicly available, there are legitimate national security concerns far above my pay grade and security clearance.”
At the moment, politicians in the state of Montana have passed a bill that would make it illegal to download the app in the state, making them the first state to pass a bill banning the app. According to The Atlantic, the bill would mostly target the company itself rather than individuals and would impose a $10,000 daily fine each time a user is offered access to or downloads TikTok.
TikTok faced questions from US Congress due to its ownership with Beijing-based company ByteDance, largely owing to data and privacy concerns. The company was accused of sending user data to the Chinese government, despite little evidence offered in support of that argument.
In addition to Snap, there has been speculation that Meta is also supportive of the video app’s ban in he United States. Forbes reported that once TikTok gets banned, other companies like Meta, Alphabet (Google’s parent company), and Snap would receive an influx of users. At the same time, TikTok users who mocked the congressional hearing accused Meta of lobbying the government to get the app removed.