The US Senate approved a ban on the use of TikTok by civil servants – Forbes.ua

The U.S. Senate voted on a bill to ban government employees from using China’s TikTok short video sharing program on work phones or other devices. Reuters. The document still needs to be approved by the US House of Representatives before it is submitted for approval to President Joe Biden.

Key facts

• The House of Representatives must pass the Senate bill before the end of the current session of Congress next week.
• The vote is the latest move by US lawmakers to crack down on Chinese companies amid national security fears that Beijing could use them to spy on Americans.
• In the US, many federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and government departments, are already banning TikTok from government devices.
• North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued directives to prevent executive agencies from downloading the app on any government equipment. About a dozen US states, including Alabama and Utah, took similar action this week.
• “We are disappointed that so many states are joining the political victory to pursue policies based on unfounded lies about TikTok that will do nothing to strengthen the national security of the United States,” TikTok said.

Context

In the United States, Republican Senator Marco Rubio introduced a bipartisan bill to ban Chinese social networking site TikTok. Reuters. All because of US fears that the program could be used to spy on Americans.

The new bill aims to ban any social media apps controlled or influenced by China and Russia.

The new U.S. bill comes as attention to TikTok has increased in Washington in recent weeks following a failed attempt by the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump to ban the video-sharing app. In 2020, Trump attempted to block new users from downloading TikTok and ban other transactions that would effectively block the use of the apps in the United States, but lost a series of lawsuits over the event. President Joe Biden postponed plans predecessor by launching its own national security threat review.