US lawmakers have renewed their efforts to ban TikTok

US lawmakers have renewed their focus on TikTok and the app’s potential threat to national security.
Late on Wednesday (Dec. 14), the US Senate voted by unanimous consent to pass legislation banning TikTok from government devices. The bill “prohibits federal employees from using the social media video application TikTok on government-issued devices.” After its passing, TikTok “must be removed from the information technology of federal agencies.”
This bill, sponsored by GOP Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, was passed in the Senate once earlier, in August 2020, but it didn’t get further than that. This time, too, the legislation must be passed in the House and receive the president’s signature before it becomes codified as law.
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Although courts shot down former president Donald Trump’s plans to issue a blanket ban on TikTok in August 2020, the push to cut TikTok’s access to America has not ended—especially when it comes to government devices.
Seven states are already one step ahead in banning TikTok on government devices
Nebraska was the first to outlaw TikTok from government devices in August 2020, around when the Trump administration was attempting to ban the app entirely.
It was alone on the roster for a while—until this month. In the first two weeks of December, six more states—Maryland, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Alabama—all banned TikTok from government devices, citing TikTok’s Chinese ownership as a national security risk.
Will America ban TikTok?
The skepticism around TikTok still rings loud even after the company has denied sharing data, and routed all US user information to Oracle servers.
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In June, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr wrote to Apple and Google asking to remove TikTok from their respective app stores due to “its pattern of surreptitious data practices.”
This month, FBI director Chris Wray said that TikTok’s parent company is controlled by the Chinese government—likely referring to the government’s stake in the company—which allows authorities to “control the recommendation algorithm,” “manipulate content,” and “use it for influence operations.”
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The Biden administration has taken less of an iron fist approach, allowing the app to function as long as it can find ways to assuage national security concerns. But critics want more stringent action.
Person of interest: Marco Rubio
A broader bill proposed by Republican senator Marco Rubio on Tuesday (Dec. 13) seeks to “block and prohibit all transactions” in the US by social media companies with at least one million monthly users that are based in, or under the “substantial influence” of, countries that are considered foreign adversaries, including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. The document explicitly lists ByteDance’s TikTok. A companion bill in the House was sponsored by Republican congressman Mike Gallagher and Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi.
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Rubio was also the one who, in late 2019, urged the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to investigate TikTok’s purchase of Musical.ly. CFIUS and Tiktok are still in talks.
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