Arif Qazi / Insider
- TikTok has become a main character in the US-China tech war.
- US politicians from both parties are looking for ways to ban the app or curtail its influence.
- But attacks on TikTok are a distraction from the bigger task of safeguarding data for all Americans.
When the US last month spotted a Chinese surveillance balloon hovering about 66,000 feet over Billings, Montana, politicians and pundits alike used the opportunity to call out another China boogeyman: TikTok.
"A big Chinese balloon in the sky and millions of Chinese TikTok balloons on our phones. Let's shut them all down," Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah tweeted.