Republicans are drafting legislation to ban TikTok from federal workers, amid allegations that the Chinese company steals personal data.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has proposed the measure and it is going through the Judiciary Committee. An aide to the Republican said, “We’re working on something right now.”.
A few months ago, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) vowed to introduce legislation banning TikTok from the U.S., warning that the widely popular social media platform could allow the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to “subtly indoctrinate American citizens”.
The senators said, “TikTok is a major threat to U.S. national security. Unless TikTok and its algorithm can be separated from Beijing, the app’s use in the United States will continue to jeopardize our country’s safety and pave the way for a Chinese-influenced tech landscape here.”
The Senators added, “With this app, Beijing could also collect sensitive national security information from U.S. government employees and develop profiles on millions of Americans to use for blackmail or espionage.”
Gallagher has also gone on the record saying that TikTok is akin to “digital fentanyl” that is “addicting our kids.”
Republicans in the House and Senate are not the only lawmakers sounding the alarm on the social media platform.
Recently, due to fears that TikTok is being used by the Chinese government to gather Americans’ personal information, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem ordered all state employees and contractors to stop using it on their government-issued devices, according to the NY Post.
In recent years, TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based tech company ByteDance, has become immensely popular among Gen Z millennials who have abandoned Facebook and Instagram.
TikTok has more than 700 million active users worldwide – 100 million of whom are in the United States.
It’s time to ban TikTok. This Chinese social media platform is a digital fentanyl – it’s extremely addictive and dangerous to our youth. It has become immensely popular with more than 700 million active users worldwide – 100 million of whom are in the United States. But these users are not just American teenagers – they’re government workers, military personnel, and other federal employees. And the Chinese company that owns TikTok is stealing their personal data. TikTok is being used by the Chinese government to gather Americans’ personal information and that’s why Republican lawmakers are drafting legislation to ban the social media platform from federal workers. We need to protect our children and our country from this dangerous app.
