Get All Access for $5/mo

Report: An FCC Commissioner Thinks the U.S. Should Ban TikTok In an interview on Tuesday, Brendan Carr, one of the five Federal Communications Commission's commissioners, said that a foreign investment regulator should ban TikTok.

By Gabrielle Bienasz

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Kevin Dietsch I Getty Images
Brendan Carr, Commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission, testifying before Congress in March 2022.

In an interview with Axios on Tuesday, one of the five Federal Communications Communication's (FCC) commissioners, Brendan Carr, said that the U.S. should ban TikTok, the widely popular short-form video app with approximately 1 billion users worldwide.

Although the FCC can't take such an action, Carr suggested that the Council on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), a different governmental body that can regulate foreign investment, should ban the app.

"I don't believe there is a path forward for anything other than a ban," he told the outlet.

Carr was referring to the risk of TikTok sending U.S. user data back to China, which has come up, as the outlet noted, in recent news reports, which have claimed TikTok's Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, planned to monitor some U.S. citizen's locations and accessed other user data.

There is no "world in which you could come up with sufficient protection on the data that you could have sufficient confidence that it's not finding its way back into the hands" of China's Communist Party, he told Axios.

As the outlet noted, TikTok is presently in discussions with the CFIUS, mainly on whether or how it could separate from ByteDance and become a U.S. company to continue serving users.

TikTok told Entrepreneur via email: "Commissioner Carr has no role in the confidential discussions with the US government related to TikTok and appears to be expressing views independent of his role as an FCC commissioner. We are confident that we are on a path to reaching an agreement with the U.S. Government that will satisfy all reasonable national security concerns."

Politicians from across the aisle have raised issues about security on TikTok, and in 2016, then President Donald Trump also considered banning the app.

Gabrielle Bienasz is a staff writer at Entrepreneur. She previously worked at Insider and Inc. Magazine. 

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Science & Technology

5 Rule-Bending AI Hacks to Make Your Mornings More Productive and Profitable

By 2025, AI will transform productivity by streamlining workflows and cutting costs. Major companies like Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI are leading the way, advancing AI into "Phase 3," where tools act as digital assistants. Discover 5 AI hacks to boost efficiency and redefine your daily routine.

Business News

Former Steve Jobs Intern Says This Is How He Would Have Approached AI

The former intern is now the CEO of AI and data company DataStax.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Marketing

5 Critical Mistakes to Avoid When Giving a Presentation

Are you tired of enduring dull presentations? Over the years, I have compiled a list of common presentation mistakes and how to avoid them. Here are my top five tips.