TikTok is being banned by lawmakers from government devices

TikTok’s ban on government-issued devices is largely symbolic — TikTok’s audience in the US is estimated to be more than 100 million, while government-issued devices are much smaller — but come as many as 18 Republican-led governors have imposed similar restrictions in recent weeks. . Some lawmakers, such as Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), called for a blanket ban of the app’s usage in the United States.

“I think people recognize the fact that China is a hostile power,” said James Lewis, senior vice president and director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noting that China has banned apps like Facebook and Twitter.

He added, “We don’t owe China any favors.” “TikTok is stuck on it — guilty or not.”

TikTok is already outlawed by many federal agencies, including the White House, all branches of the military, and many federal departments, such as the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and the State Department.

TikTok described the decision to include this measure as “a political gesture that will not advance national security interests.”

“We are disappointed that Congress has moved to ban TikTok on government devices — a political gesture that will do nothing to advance national security interests — rather than encourage the administration to end its own national security review,” Brooke Oberwetter said of the app, a TikTok spokesperson, in an email. Washington Post.

In September, TikTok’s chief operating officer, Vanessa Pappas, told Congress that TikTok is a subsidiary of Chinese company ByteDance. She stated that TikTok’s Chinese employees follow strict access controls to US data and don’t provide any information to China.

TikTok has reached an agreement with the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States.

The file includes the provision to ban TikTok from all government agencies $1.7 trillion overall spending billTo fund the US government until 2023. Senior Republicans and Democrats unveiled the bill on Tuesday morning. To avoid a partial shutdown, Congress must pass the measure before Friday.

The bill gives the White House Office of Management and Budget sixty days to “develop standards and guidelines for enforcement agencies that need to remove TikTok” from federal agencies.

The TikTok clause highlighted the growing anti-China bipartisanship of Congress and the Republican effort in increasing numbers to portray the Biden Administration as a week on China. The Senate unanimously approved the TikTok provision last week. SupportedTikTok to be banned from government agencies by a bill. Senator Josh Hawley (R. Missouri), who introduced the legislation, called TikTok “Trojan horse of the Chinese Communist Party” that poses significant security threats to the United States.

“After years of talking, banning TikTok will be the first major blow against Big Tech enacted into law,” he tweeted Tuesday after the law was passed.

Leaders from both sides of the aisle supported this legislation, including Nancy Pelosi (D.Calif.) as House Speaker and Kevin McCarthy (R.Calif.).

Utah bans TikTok from public devices, joining other Republican states

Even those who agree with the concern that Chinese spying should not be allowed to continue, many people think that banning the app by government agencies is ineffective. Lewis, from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, stated that Chinese cyber espionage in the past 20 years was aggressive and should be a concern.

“So is there cause for concern? Yes,” Lewis said. “Do [the proposed ban]How can you change the security picture? “Not much.”