“Just like the Americans did.” German minister says TikTok must be 'placed in European hands'

The Chinese social network TikTok should be placed in the EU under the control of European companies, the German Minister of Culture, Wolfram Weimer, said on Monday, citing fears related to access by a foreign power to a multitude of data of Europeans, writes Agerpres.

“When it comes to TikTok, I think we have to question the ownership, just like the Americans did,” who got TikTok's US subsidiary placed under a majority American shareholder, the German culture minister said at a conference on the subject, according to German news agency DPA.

“Europe must find an answer to this question: Who owns TikTok and should we place it in European hands, in agreement with ByteDance?”, the Chinese company that owns the platform, the German official added.

The success of the popular short video app TikTok is causing fears in Brussels and among Europhile politicians about influencing public opinion and about China's access to citizens' data.

Platforms like TikTok “have access to data on a scale unimaginable a generation ago, including the most intimate data of entire generations”, the same German minister also reasoned.

On the other hand, he also calls for the imposition of an Internet tax on the companies Google, which owns YouTube, and Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook. These companies, the German minister claims, should pay to the EU 10% of the revenues obtained from advertising, as a compensation for the massive profits they obtain through their dominant position in Europe.