A high-flying tech executive who once tried to buy into TikTok thinks there's no magic fix for the app's data security to be taken seriously.

Brad Greenspan, who helped launch social media giant MySpace, believes it needs to overhaul the leadership structure, and distance itself from Chinese owner ByteDance.

It comes as US lawmakers consider outlawing TikTok amid concerns the Chinese government's using it to gather users personal details.

Speaking exclusively to Newstalk ZB, Greenspan says keeping ByteDance on board, seems to be a point of pride for China.

He says you could put ten fibre walls and trucks locking down databases but it's still going to have the same risks.

The UK Parliament banned TikTok from its devices overnight a week after New Zealand did the same.