TikTok announce it will leave Hong Kong as China power grows

Viral video app TikTok has announced plans to pull out of the Hong Kong market, as other countries weigh up banning the app.

The under fire viral video app TikTok has announced it will stop operating in Hong Kong, shortly after the passing of legislation that increases China’s control over the region.

“In light of recent events, we’ve decided to stop operations of the TikTok app in Hong Kong,” a TikTok spokesperson told Reuters following questioning over its commitment to operating in the region.

TikTok is a wildly popular short form video app developed by Chinese tech company ByteDance.

TikTok said it’s leaving due to lack of interest from locals. Picture: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP

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TikTok has been a hot topic in the news this week over potential it could be banned in Australia and other countries.

Discussion started in Australia on Monday after an unnamed federal MP told the Herald-Sun the app was a data gathering arm of the Chinese government, claims TikTok Australia’s general manager Lee Hunter said were not credible given the politician wouldn’t put their name behind it.

In the US, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News the country is “looking at” a ban as well.

“I don’t want to get out in front of the President but it’s something we’re looking at,” Mr Pompeo said.

Members of the armed forces in Australia and the US have been warned against having TikTok installed on any government issued device.

The app does not operate in China, where another ByteDance product called Douyin performs a similar function with further restrictions over content.

New legislation recently passed in Hong Kong increased China’s power over the region, which was supposed to be very limited before the country takes back direct control in 2047.

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A TikTok spokesperson told news.com.au that Hong Kong is a small market for TikTok, the company hasn’t invested much in the region to date, and it hasn’t really caught on.

As of last September the app only had around 150,000 users in the specially administrated region of around 8 million.

Protests against China’s growing influence in the region continue. Picture: Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images

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TikTok denied reports around that same time that moderators had been instructed to censor videos on topics China doesn’t like, and said the fact that videos covering the topic of ongoing protests in Hong Kong were hard to find was just because users weren’t engaging with them, so the algorithm recommended them less.

“The Chinese government does not request that TikTok censor content. To be clear: We do not remove videos based on the presence of Hong Kong protest content,” the company told Buzzfeed News, but ignored a question about whether it restricts their spread.