US senators seek to ban federal employees from using TikTok on their phones
Two
Republican senators on Thursday introduced a bill aimed at banning
federal employees from using Chinese social media app TikTok
on their government-issued phones, amid growing national security
concerns around the collection and sharing of data on US users with
China's government.
The
bill by Senators Josh Hawley and Rick Scott comes as several US
agencies that deal with national security and intelligence issues
including the State Department and the Department of Homeland
Security have banned employees from using the app.
It
is also the latest attempt to rein in technology companies by Hawley,
who has repeatedly clashed with big tech companies.
"TikTok
is owned by a Chinese company that includes Chinese Communist Party
members on its board, and it is required by law to share user data
with Beijing," Hawley said. " As many of our federal
agencies have already recognized, TikTok is a major security risk to
the United States, and it has no place on government devices."
The
app has been rapidly growing in popularity among US teenagers and
allows users to create short videos. About 60% of TikTok's 26.5
million monthly active users in the United States are aged 16 to 24,
the company said last year.
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