US Lawmakers Introduce Bill That Could Ban TikTok Across The Country

Recently, several regions across the United States have banned TikTok from state-owned devices, citing growing concerns regarding the China-owned application’s alleged failure to safeguard user data and potential threats to national security. 

Now, a new bill put forth by Senator Marco Rubio, Representative Mike Gallagher, and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi is calling for the popular social media platform to be banned from operating in the country. 

The proposed legislation would “block and prohibit all transactions” in the nation involving networks with at least one million active monthly users that are based in countries considered adversaries, including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela.

Notably, the bill the trio aims to introduce specifically called out TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, as the main concern. So far, as per CNN, at least seven states have moved to prohibit the app, such as Maryland, South Dakota, and Utah.

“The federal government has yet to take a single meaningful action to protect American users from the threat of TikTok. This isn’t about creative videos—this is about an app that is collecting data on tens of millions of American children and adults every day,” Rubio expresses in a statement.

While TikTok previously declared it does not share user information with the Chinese government, it did acknowledge that employees based in China can access data from American users. As such, entities such as the US military have already restricted the application on their devices. 

This isn’t the first bill targeting TikTok’s dominance, and it might not be the last. Previously, lawmakers proposed a ban on the application by federal agencies, while another suggested stopping China-based employees from accessing the data of US citizens.

[via Gizmodo and CNN, cover image via Pressureua | Dreamstime.com]