CHINA accused the United States today of spreading disinformation and suppressing social media platform TikTok.

This follows reports that the Biden administration was calling for its Chinese owners to sell their stakes in the popular video-sharing app.

The US has yet to present evidence that TikTok threatens its national security and was using the excuse of data security to abuse its power to suppress foreign companies, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters.

Mr Wang said: “The US should stop spreading disinformation about data security, stop suppressing the relevant company, and provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for foreign businesses to invest and operate in the US.”

TikTok was dismissive of a report in the Wall Street Journal that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US was threatening to ban the app unless its owners, Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd, divested.

TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said: “If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn't solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access.”

Ms Shanahan said TikTok was already answering concerns through “transparent, US-based protection of US user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting and verification.”

The Treasury Department and the White House’s National Security Council declined to comment.