In an attempt to “set the record straight”, TikTok has started a new website — tiktokus.info — which will collate all of the company’s statements, “expert opinions” and other information. The website is targeted at users in the United States of America, where the company stands to be banned unless its parent company, Chinese-owned ByteDance, divests itself from it soon, as per an executive order that President Donald Trump had issued on August 14. The order gives ByteDance 90 days to sell TikTok and delete all data of US-based users. In a blog post announcing the creation of its information hub, titled “Setting the record straight”, TikTok hopes to make the case for itself to American consumers. It reads: “Today, we're taking another step to continue to build trust with our TikTok community by delivering the facts – in our own words and in the words of leading experts across cybersecurity, media, and academia – because we neither support nor stand for the spread of misinformation on our platform, or about our platform”. This blog post, however, is not accessible within India, at least not without a VPN, owing to the June 29 ban on the app and its website in India under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. The new website’s “Expert Opinions” section features articles from prominent publications such as the New York Times, CNN and Bloomberg, all of which defend TikTok’s overall position in the company’s disagreements with the US government. Articles cited include reports by…
