TikTok 'should be banned,' former Treasury official argues

A potential government ban on TikTok will once again be in focus this week as the company’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, will testify before Congress on Thursday. Steve Pavlick, Renaissance Macro Research Head of Policy, notes there are several ways TikTok usage could be tailored by the U.S. government.

One solution would be spearheaded by the Commerce Department, which could ban the use of TikTok in the U.S through restricting app downloads and limiting its role in commerce, Pavlick wrote recently. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), would lead the other charge.

Regardless of the path to the limitations, Pavlick believes TikTok, which just eclipsed 150 million monthly active users, should be banned in the U.S. Social media stocks have popped on such speculation over the past month. Shares of Meta (META), Snap (SNAP) and Pinterest (PINS) have all risen over the last several weeks as the notion of banning TikTok has gained bipartisan support.

In the video above, Pavlick joins Yahoo Finance's Dave Briggs and Seana Smith to explain why he believes TikTok should be banned.

Key video moments:

0:00:05 - The case for a ban