Senate Republicans are reintroducing a bill to ban TikTok on federal government devices “in the best interest of our national security.”
The No TikTok on Government Devices Act passed the GOP-led Senate unanimously in August 2020 but never received a vote in the House under Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
“TikTok is a Trojan horse for the Chinese Communist Party that has no place on government devices — or any American devices, for that matter,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., wrote in a statement Thursday. “My bill is a straightforward plan to protect American government data from a hostile foreign power, which, less than a year ago, passed the Senate unanimously.
“TikTok has repeatedly proven itself to be a malicious actor, but Joe Biden and big tech refuse to take the threat of Chinese espionage seriously. It’s time for Congress to act.”
Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., are the bill’s co-sponsors, along with Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo.
“TikTok poses a potential threat to personal privacy and our national security interests,” Rubio, Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, wrote in a statement on the bill. “There is absolutely no reason why this application, which Beijing can use to advance its malign foreign policy initiatives, should be utilized on federal devices. In its current form, this platform is not safe. I’m proud to join Sens. Hawley and Scott in introducing this bill.”
The State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and TSA have already banned TikTok on federal devices due to cybersecurity concerns and the Chinese government’s ability to spy on its country’s companies.
“We cannot allow federal employees to jeopardize U.S. government networks and national security by using apps like TikTok, which are connected to the Chinese Communist Party,” Scott wrote in a statement. “Communist China has shown again and again that it will stop at nothing to infiltrate our government networks and steal American technology and intellectual property. I’m proud to join Sen. Hawley on this important legislation and hope our colleagues will join us in quickly passing the No TikTok on Government Devices Act.”
Former President Trump issued an executive order last year requiring Chinese company ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to sell the app or have it banned from use in the United States. But with the Biden administration taking over, that order has fallen by the wayside and the White House is reviewing whether to force ByteDance to sell TikTok, The Hill reported.
Source: Newmax
