No, the US government is not banning TikTok

Rumors swirled on Monday that US Attorney General Merrick Garland was going to announce a ban on TikTok after teasing a press conference after news that he'd give details of a "significant national security case."

The popular video-sharing app has faced controversy in the past with some claiming it is a threat to national security because it is owned by the Chinese-based company, ByteDance.

In 2020, former president Donald Trump threatened to ban the app and since then other countries have banned the app.

The US has been in discussion with TikTok to make changes in its data security and governance without requiring ByteDance to sell it.

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So, it was only natural that some people speculated a "national security" conference had to do with TikTok.

People on Twitter circulated the rumor that the Attorney General would soon announce the ban, leading others to theorize why it could be true.

As 2pm rolled around, Garland appeared before the press to inform people the US government was going to charge two Chinese nationalists with trying to obstruct justice in an investigation into Huawei Technologies Co - not a ban on TikTok.

In 2020, the US accused Huawei Technologies of stealing trade secrets and committing bank fraud, the following year they added conspiracy to commit racketeering to the list of charges against the company

According to the complaint, filed Monday, the two Chinese spies paid a US law enforcement employee to provide what they believed to be confidential information about the case.

The US law enforcement agent was also working for the government, unbeknownst to the spies.

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