China accuses US of disinformation and TikTok suppression

China has accused the US of spreading disinformation and suppressing TikTok, following reports that Washington is calling on its Chinese owners to sell their stakes in the popular video-sharing app. The US has yet to present evidence that TikTok threatens its national security and was using the excuse of data security to abuse its power to suppress foreign companies, according to foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin. TikTok was dismissive of a report in The Wall Street Journal that said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US was threatening a ban on the app unless its owners, Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd, divested. Meanwhile, Britain said it would ban TikTok on government phones with immediate effect, a move that follows other Western countries.