TikTok Ban on Government Devices Included in Omnibus Bill

TikTok app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken on July 13, 2021. Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters

A Congressional omnibus bill introduced this week includes legislation that would ban the social media app TikTok from government devices due to national security concerns.

The $1.65 trillion spending bill (pdf) introduced on Dec. 20 includes a measure that would ban TikTok from all devices in the executive branch, and closely resembles bans on the app already in place at the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and State.

The “No TikTok on Government Devices Act” would mandate the removal of the app from devices owned and operated by executive branch employees, but would allow members of Congress to continue to use it. The act also includes a provision that would allow for the continued use of the app for law enforcement, national security, and research purposes.

The ban, which received widespread bipartisan support after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) signaled her approval last week, follows numerous allegations from lawmakers and national intelligence leaders that TikTok poses a unique national security threat to the United States.

‘National Security Concerns’

CIA Director William Burns said in a recent interview with PBS that children should be “really careful” using the app after it emerged that minors in the United States were being exposed to pro-suicide videos on the app.

Burns also stressed that, because TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, it was vulnerable to being used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for influence operations against Americans.

“Because the parent company of TikTok is a Chinese company, the Chinese government is able to insist upon extracting the private data of a lot of TikTok users in this country, and also to shape the content of what goes on to TikTok as well to suit the interests of the Chinese leadership,” Burns said. “I think those are real challenges and a source of real concern.”

Likewise, speaking at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing in November, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the app could be used to collect data on Americans for the CCP and to conduct untold numbers of influence operations.

“The Chinese government could use it to control data collection on millions of users or control the recommendation algorithm, which could be used for influence operations if they so chose, or to control software on millions of devices which gives it opportunity to potentially technically compromise personal devices,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said.

“I would say that we do have national security concerns, at least from the FBI’s [perspective], about TikTok.”

14 States Ban TikTok for China Ties

TikTok’s ties to China’s communist regime have been increasingly well-documented.

TikTok executives previously admitted to censoring content at the request of the CCP, including suppressing videos critical of the regime’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Tiananmen Square.

Similarly, the company admitted (pdf) that employees in China have access to American users’ data, making that data subject to CCP laws that compel companies to hand over any and all data upon request.

The app also collects immense amounts of data on users, such as facial recognition patterns, typing behaviors, information the user has copied to their digital clipboard, and everything the user types into the in-app browser, including passwords and bank information.

At least 14 states have banned TikTok from being used by local government employees, largely in Republican-governed states.

Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Virginia have all enacted some form of TikTok ban on government devices.

Former President Donald Trump attempted to ban TikTok in 2019. The move was undone by the Biden administration, however, who instead ordered the Commerce Department to evaluate the platform for any potential national security risks.

TikTok is also currently undergoing a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a federal panel charged with assessing foreign acquisitions for national security risks.

TikTok has condemned the No TikTok on Government Devices Act as politically motivated and maintains that its app is safe for Americans.

“It is troubling that rather than encouraging the Administration to conclude its national security review of TikTok, some members of Congress have decided to push for a politically-motivated ban that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States,” a TikTok spokesperson said in an email.