Few imagined that a social networking app could cause a stir between the United States Congress and the White House. But the truth is that the popular TikTok could see its days over among American users.
The US Congress puts pressure on the administration of President Joe Biden to ban TikTok nationwide after Senator Josh Hawley and Congressman Ken Buck introduced legislation Wednesday to curb its use, the No TikTok Act.
Hawley advocated for the legislation in a Twitter post on Tuesday, writing “TikTok is China’s back door into the lives of Americans”.
.@tiktok_us is China’s backdoor into Americans’ lives. It threatens our children’s privacy as well as their mental health. Last month Congress banned it on all government devices. Now I will introduce legislation to ban it nationwide
—Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) January 24, 2023
As he recalls a report published on the website of gizmodoa similar bill for was introduced during the last session of Congress, but was not considered in either chamber.
The No TikTok Law on US devices would ban access to the app on all computers, but may face rejection from a divided Congress in the coming weeks.
Why do they want to ban TikTok in the US?
TikTok was launched in 2016 by the Chinese company ByteDance, which has faced criticism from government officials who say it the app gives China access to US data, making it a security risk.
For his part, FBI director Christopher Wray warned the United States federal government that China could be using TikTok to control or influence user devices.
The application It has already been banned in 28 states. and faces a blanket ban for all federal employees that would prohibit them from using or downloading TikTok on government-owned devices.
President Biden signed a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill in December that included a measure to ban the app across all executive branch devices, but did not apply to Congress or its staff.
From its trenches, TikTok has been in talks with the US Committee on Foreign Investment for two years to address national security concerns, but there appears to be no going back.
