The ticking TikTok: How an app ignited a national security debate

Guest: Caitlin Chin, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC

The social media app TikTok has attracted billions of users but concerns have grown over its roots in China and countries around the world, including Canada, have banned TikTok from government devices. Now, in the last 24 hours, the Biden administration has escalated a heated debate on TikTok’s security implications by issuing an ultimatum to the company: sell TikTok or be banned. We look at how the trendiest social platform of this generation ended up at the centre of an uproar involving national security, political panic and a serious ultimatum by the American president.

Audio sources: CNN, CNBC, NBC

This episode was produced by Saba Eitizaz, Alexis Green and Paulo Marques.