As the Trump administration mulls a broader ban on Chinese apps along the lines of India, a US Senate panel on Wednesday approved a bill barring federal employees from downloading and using TikTok, one of them, or replacement applications developed by its parent company ByteDance.
Titled “No TikTok on Government Devices Act”, the legislation said, “No employee of the United States, the officer of the United States, Member of Congress, congressional employee, or officer or employee of a government corporation may download or use TikTok or any successor application developed by ByteDance or any entity owned by ByteDance on any device issued by the United States or a government corporation.”
In the escalating rift between the US, China, President Donald Trump has not ruled out shutting other Chinese missions here following the closure of the consulate in Houston. “As far as closing additional embassies, it’s always possible,” he told reporters.
The Senate legislation on TikTok was introduced by Josh Hawley, a Republican senator from Missouri who has also moved other measures against China, including one to make Beijing pay for the COVID-19 epidemic. The TikTok bill was passed by the committee on homeland security for consideration of the full Senate, and it is set become law as the House of Representative passed legislation earlier this week, as part of the National Defense Authorization Act 2021, the defense budget, that proposed to do the same, bar federal employees from using TikTok.
Though Hawley introduced his TikTok bill in march, America has rushed towards outlawing TikTok and other Chinese apps after India banned 59 of them June-end, including the US browser and WeChat saying their user data were being mined and profiled by “elements hostile to national security and defense of India.”
A 2017 Chinese law forces these and other Chinese companies to cooperate with the government in intelligence matters. Shortly after the Indian ban, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States was considering a similar measure, specific to TikTok. He later told a broad review was underway not only of TikTok but other Chinese apps and devices.
The United States has barred Chinese telecommunications firms Huawei and ZTE from participating in its rollout of the 5G network and lobbied other countries to join in a burgeoning global boycott of these companies.
TikTok spokeswoman Jamie Favazza said the company’s growing US team has no higher priority than promoting a safe app experience that protects users’ privacy. “Millions of American families use TikTok for entertainment, and creative expression, which we recognize is not what federal government devices are for,” she said, as reported by Reuters.