Last week, the U.S. Senate voted to ban TikTok on government-issued devices, after the FBI raised the alarm over “the possibility of surveillance and ‘influence operations’ by the Chinese government.”
The Senate action follows the course of several states, including four this week, that have banned TikTok on government equipment.
In November, U.S. Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, stated that TikTok poses real “‘national security concerns’ to the U.S.” In addition, a commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission wants to completely prohibit TikTok in the U.S.
Large Chinese companies are often owned, in whole or in part, by the Chinese government, and Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok, is no exception. TikTok claims that American users’ data is not “stored” in China, and announced in June that it would move all data produced by American users through Oracle, the Silicon Valley company. Some experts, and a growing chorus of state and federal officials, still believe the app poses a threat to American security.
Through CFIUS, “an interagency committee” that analyses specific sales and purchases with overseas investment for national security issues, TikTok is attempting to form an arrangement to enable the company to “divest” to a U.S. company and continue running in the U.S.
This bill, introduced by Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), will now go to the House of Representatives.
