HO CHI MINH CITY –
TikTok will be banned on most US government devices under a government spending bill that Congress announced early Tuesday, the latest push by US lawmakers against the app. Chinese-owned social media apps.
The $1.7 trillion package includes requirements for the Biden administration to ban most use of TikTok or any other app created by its owner, ByteDance Ltd. The requirements would apply to the executive branch — with exemptions for national security, law enforcement and research purposes — and are unlikely to include Congress, where some lawmakers How to maintain a TikTok account.
TikTok is used by two-thirds of American teenagers and has become the second most popular domain in the world. But for a long time, bipartisanship in Washington has been concerned that Beijing will use its legal and regulatory power to seize American user data or try to promote pro-China stories or disinformation.
Brooke Oberwetter, a spokeswoman for TikTok, called the ban “a political gesture that will not help national security interests.” TikTok is developing data privacy and security plans as part of the ongoing national security review by the administration of President Joe Biden.
“These plans have been developed under the supervision of our country’s top national security agencies — plans that we’re working on well — to further secure our infrastructure.” our platforms in the United States and we will continue to keep lawmakers informed about them,” Oberwetter said in a statement.
Speaking on Friday, CIA Director William Burns said Beijing could “claim to extract the private data of a lot of TikTok users in the country and also to shape the content of what’s happening on TikTok and also to shape the content of what’s happening on TikTok as well. as consistent with the interests of the Chinese leadership.”
“I think those are the real challenges and a source of real concern,” Burns told PBS. He has refused to take a position on congressional efforts to restrict TikTok.
Her office said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is pushing for the inclusion of the TikTok provision in a major year-end bill. Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican who authored a version of the TikTok bill that was passed by the Senate last week, called the government’s device ban the “first major blow against the law” Big Tech is enacted into law.”
Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., co-sponsored the law to completely ban TikTok from operating in the United States. He called the government’s device ban an appropriate start and said there was a “support base” for broader action.
“We’re not just talking about Republicans, Democrats and independents,” said Krishnamoorthi, a member of the House Intelligence Committee. “We’re talking about parents who are broadly interested in social media and TikTok in particular.”
——
Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
