Tiktok is already banned from government cell phones in the White House, and the ban could be extended to the entire United States by law. According to the US government, the social media app poses a security risk.
The US government has identified Tiktok as a potential national security risk. “We have concerns about the collection of data from Americans and the potential risk to national security,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said of efforts to ban Tiktok in the United States.
The Foreign Affairs Committee in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday introduced a bill that would allow President Joe Biden to ban Tiktok in the US. “Tiktok is a modern day Chinese Communist Party Trojan horse used to monitor and exploit personal information of Americans,” said the committee’s chairman, Republican Rep. Michael McCaul.
However, the proposal is not yet law. It must first be voted on in the plenary session of Parliament before it can be submitted to the Senate. Tiktok said such a law would have a significant negative impact on the free speech rights of millions of Americans who use and love Tiktok.
The White House banned the social media app, owned by a Chinese company, from government phones on Monday. Similar prohibitions apply to members of the House of Representatives and employees. Several states and the US military have also issued similar regulations in the past.
Beijing criticized the ban. State Department spokeswoman Mao Ning said the US must “end the unjustified repression of relevant businesses and create an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for businesses around the world.”
