Americans are torn on apps like TikTok, a social media company that has faced scrutiny for alleged national security threats and concerns about links to the Chinese Communist Party, a new poll shows.
Forty percent of Americans share the concerns of some lawmakers regarding such apps, specifically that they “pose a security risk to the U.S.,” and more than one third agree that China should be “dealt with firmly,” a survey from the research group Pipslay shows.
Thirty-two percent of Americans polled think President Donald Trump’s assessment of TikTok as a national security threat is a baseless charge that “is more of a political gimmick.”
Pipslay polled 30,499 Americans over the age of 18 nationwide between August 11 and 12 for the survey, which comes as Trump has expressed vocal support for American companies to buy TikTok from its parent company ByteDance. Trump has said that if Microsoft brokers a deal by the Sept. 15 deadline he wouldn’t ban the social media app that has come under fire for allegedly sharing user data to the CCP. (RELATED: Trump Signs Pair Of Late Night Executive Orders Banning Communications With TikTok, WeChat Parent Companies)
WATCH: President Donald Trump only agreed to allow Microsoft to negotiate the acquisition of popular short-video app TikTok if it could secure a deal in 45 days, sources told @Reuters https://t.co/lTTmVklPUw pic.twitter.com/MFdw3JgzVV
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 9, 2020
Americans are split, however, on the subject of using executive orders to ban companies like TikTok due to the national security concerns: 36% believe “China should be dealt with firmly” while nearly the same amount believe executive orders “can threaten US companies in other countries, especially China” at 33%, while 31% were unsure.
When asked about the possibility of Microsoft and Twitter buying or merging with TikTok ahead of the ban deadline, 41% were excited, 30% were unsure, and 29% said that the U.S. should not “buy or invest in Chinese companies anymore.”
The survey also showed generational cleavages, primarily between Millennials and Generation Z, the latter of which is commonly known to use the app more actively. While 61% of Millennials, who are often defined as born between 1981 and 1996, support the TikTok ban, 39% of Generation Z, often defined as born after 1997, support the ban.