User data being sent to China’s servers, TikTok will face ‘strong action’ in US, says Trump aide

San Francisco: A top White House official said he expected President Trump to act firmly against the TikTok and WeChat social media apps, prompting an angry response from China on Monday.

China dismissed White House trade advisor Peter Navarro’s comments as “ridiculous and narrow-minded”, and slammed the United States as “the world’s real hacker empire” amid rising tensions between the two superpowers.

“For a long time now, it (the US) has carried out indiscriminate and illegal cyber attacks, surveillance and theft of secrets on a global scale,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a routine briefing.