Facebook's Zuckerberg criticizes TikTok

WASHINGTON: Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday attacked the rapidly growing Chinese short-video app TikTok, saying it censored political protest, including in the United States.

While delivering an address on free speech at Georgetown University in Washington, Zuckerberg said Facebook social media platforms like WhatsApp were used by protesters and activists everywhere because of its encryption and privacy protection.

But “on TikTok, the Chinese app growing quickly around the world, mentions of these same protests are censored, even here in the US,” he said.

Zuckerberg’s Thursday comments came just two weeks after Senator Marco Rubio asked a U.S. national security panel to review TikTok owner Beijing ByteDance Technology’s acquisition of Musical.ly.

Rubio said Chinese-owned apps “are increasingly being used to censor content and silence open discussion on topics deemed sensitive by the Chinese Government and Communist Party.”

ByteDance is one of China’s fastest growing startups. It owns the country’s leading news aggregator, Jinri Toutiao, as well as TikTok, which has attracted celebrities like Ariana Grande and Katy Perry along with legions of U.S. teenagers.