TikTok 'not under Chinese government's thumb'

Video-sharing app TikTok has denied accusations that it is controlled by the Chinese government.

Theo Bertram, TikTok's head of public policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said it would refuse any request from China to hand over data.

"The suggestion that we are in any way under the thumb of the Chinese government is completely and utterly false," he told the BBC.

TikTok has come under pressure by Washington over its future in the US.

Its owner, ByteDance, which is based in Beijing but domiciled in the Cayman Islands, has had talks with the UK government about basing its HQ in London.

But the US is considering banning TikTok and may only allow it to keep operating if it splits from China and becomes an American company.