Upcoming Bill to Add TikTok to Foreign Tech Ban

This week, two U.S. Senators will introduce legislation that would allow the government to proceed. “ban or prohibit” foreign technology businesses in the United States—including the Chinese video-sharing app TikTok, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) has revealed.

TikTok is a possible alternative. “one of the potentials” Warner, who is the head of Senate Intelligence Committee will be taking the proposal to the bipartisan legislature, into consideration told Fox News Sunday On March 5,

Warner expressed concern about Tiktok “could be a propaganda tool … to promote ideological issues” Based on what types of videos users can see, it is classified as a “video sharing” site.

Warner claims that Warner would like the legislation to state: “in terms of foreign technology coming into America, we’ve got to have a systemic approach to make sure we can ban or prohibit it when necessary.”

The content Tiktok offers young Chinese users is compared to the one that the American application promotes to them in America.

“If you look at what Tiktok shows to the Chinese kids, which is all about science and engineering, versus what our kids see, there’s a radical difference,” He said.

Warner stated that he will submit the bill along with Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. Warner’s representative stated that Tuesday was the expected date for an announcement.

Bipartisan efforts to purge Tiktok

Due to its links to the CCP, TikTok’s alleged practice to send user data to ByteDance in China, its parent company ByteDance has been under scrutiny by Congress for years.

The legal battle to remove the app, which is popular in China, from Congress members and executive employees has been ongoing.

White House ordered The Chinese-owned TikTok application was to be removed from all government devices, systems and computers within 30 days. This is in an effort to safeguard government data.

White House Office of Management and BudgetOMBTwitter user?) claimed that the Biden administration “has made advancing our nation’s cybersecurity a top priority.”

“Today, OMB is releasing guidance on implementation of the ‘No TikTok on Government Devices Act,’ requiring agencies to cease using the app except in select circumstances,” The agency wrote.

Shalanda, OMB Director, issued instructions to federal agencies urging them to block internet traffic to the Chinese-owned business as part of the purge.

OMB guidelines state agencies have 90 days from the date of receipt to rectify any TikTok misuse by IT supplier contractors. A new TikTok ban must be added to every solicitation within 120 days.

Although certain applications of software that is on government devices may be permitted, like those related to national security, security research or law enforcement, the memo says no broad exclusions would be made from the rule for whole agencies.

According to the memo, all such activities must be approved by agency leaders.

In the interim, Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, chair of House Foreign Affairs Committee introduced a billpdf) at the end of February—the “Deterring America’s Technological Adversaries Act”—that would give President Joe Biden the authority to ban TikTok from all devices in the United States.

He described TikTok as “a spy balloon into your phone.”

“Currently, the courts have questioned the administration’s authority to sanction TikTok. My bill empowers the administration to ban TikTok or any software applications that threaten U.S. national security,” McCaul made the statement in an interview to The Epoch Times.

“And make no mistake—TikTok is a security threat. It allows the CCP to manipulate and monitor its users while it gobbles up Americans’ data to be used for their malign activities,” He continued. “Anyone with TikTok downloaded on their device has given the CCP a backdoor to all their personal information.”

An omnibus congressional bill was passed Dec. 23, last year. includes TikTok devices would no longer be allowed to function under federal law. The “No TikTok on Government Devices Act” Had already been approved The Senate voted unanimously.

Ban in Multiple Countries

Similar bans have been ordered by several U.S. States, including India, Taiwan and the European Union. Canada announced an earlier ban on Monday.

Mona Fortier is president of Canada’s Treasury Board. announced On February 28, TikTok was banned by the country on all government-provided devices. This is due to concerns that TikTok’s data collection makes users more vulnerable to cyberattacks.

In line with the United States and other nations, on Feb. 25 the European Union ordered a ban TikTok is available on all devices, corporate or individual, used by the European Commission

“To increase its cybersecurity, the [European] Commission’s Corporate Management Board has decided to suspend the use of the TikTok application on its corporate devices and on personal devices enrolled in the Commission mobile device service,” The Commission stated in statement.

“This measure aims to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyber-attacks against the corporate environment of the Commission,” They added it.

Caden Pearson was a contributor to this report.