TikTok May Soon be Banned From All U.S. Government Devices by Congress With Few Exceptions, Including Congress Itself

By Rotsen Rick Tidoy First Posted: Dec 20, 2022 11:41 PM EST

TikTok has long been accused of being used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans. Now, the United States House of Representatives is moving to ban the app on all U.S. government devices. However, this excludes bans for ones belonging to members of Congress.

U.S. lawmakers have been pushing against TikTok over security concerns, as the app is owned by Chinese company, ByteDance, which is required by Chinese law to hand over all its data to the Chinese government.

The proposed TikTok ban for government devices is part of the proposed $1.7 trillion package, and it requires the Biden administration to prohibit the use of the app or any app created by ByteDance Ltd. in government devices, according to NPR.

Exceptions for the TikTok Ban Revealed, But Members of Congress Can Still Use TikTok

The prohibition on the use of TikTok would apply to the executive branch. However, there is a noted exemption for national security, law enforcement, and research purposes. The Associated Press also noted that the prohibition also does not cover Congress itself, as several lawmakers in the House and the Senate have TikTok accounts of their own.

The concern over the app has become a bipartisan issue, with both Democrats and Republicans voicing their concerns over China seizing and using American user data, as well as trying to push a pro-China narrative. There is even a cause for concern over China spreading misinformation to users, with misinformation already being prevalent in the app.

NPR noted that the ban might probably not affect private individuals and just government-issued devices. It is also noted that the app had already been banned in several federal and state government entities, including the White House, the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department. This just extends the ban to even more government entities.

Republicans and Democrats Finally Agree on Something, and That is Banning TikTok

Before her term ended, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was pushing to include the TikTok ban provision into the big year-end bill. Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican who had always been at odds with Democrats, agreed and called the app's ban on government devices as "the first major strike against Big Tech enacted into law."

However, Hawley does not want to ban the app from the United States entirely, and suggested that the U.S. should just place a "firewall between Beijing and TikTok." On the other hand, a Democratic House Representative, Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., wants to ban the app from the United States altogether.

Marketers are also showing some support for the ban, including Kevin Renwick, media director at the creative and media agency Mekanism. He told DigiDay that there should be limits on people consuming content on government-issued devices.

Another marketing expert, Mea Cole Tefka, who has worked with companies such as Facebook, said that while TikTok has shown great capabilities in fostering creativity, advertisers should also be concerned about the accessibility of the app's platform data overall.

"There's an ethical question as to how that data is being used and what are the consequences of engaging," she told DigiDay, raising her concerns about the censorship and propaganda coming from Beijing,

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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