On December 14^th, the United States Senate unanimously passed the No TikTok on Government Devices Act. This Act prohibits “downloading or using TikTok on any device issued by the United States or a government corporation”, except “law enforcement activities, national security interests and activities, and security researchers; and for any authorized use of a covered application under an exception, requirements for agencies to develop and document risk mitigation actions for such use” (U.S. Congress). The Act was initially introduced by Missouri Senator Josh Hawley on April 15^th, 2021 (U.S. Congress).

The Details

Essentially, this Act would prohibit TikTok from being installed and/or used on federal government-issued devices. Why? Many U.S. government officials believe that TikTok is a possible cybersecurity risk for the United States due to the data it collects on its users.

As with all social media companies, TikTok collects and stores data on its users (including geolocation data, browsing habits and history, as well as personal information). What separates TikTok from other social media applications, such as Facebook, is that it is owned by a company based in China known as ByteDance. Thus, some U.S. officials feel that allowing a Chinese company to store data on U.S. citizens- especially those in government or military positions- is a cause for concern and a threat to the safety of the United States. This is especially so when the assumption is made that ByteDance shares the data it collects on its users with the Chinese government.

Of course, there are exceptions to this Act, which include using TikTok for law enforcement use as well as research purposes.

What Next?

The No TikTok on Government Devices Act must now be passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and then signed into law by the current U.S. President, Joe Biden. Some states, including (as of December 18^th, 2022) Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah, have begun to create legislature to ban TikTok on state government-issued devices as well (Adams).

However, some government officials wish to take this ban further. Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Representative Mike Gallagher believe that TikTok should be completely banned in the United States, citing that the data TikTok collects could allow the Chinese Government to employ “blackmail or espionage” practices on United States citizens (Rubio & Gallagher). There has been some pushback from other government officials to banning the application entirely throughout the United States, so it remains to be seen whether a country-wide ban will actually be implemented.

Works Cited & Further Reading

Adams, Andrew. “Updated: Where Is Tiktok Banned? Tracking State by State.” GovTech, GovTech, 15 Dec. 2022, https://www.govtech.com/biz/data/where-is-tiktok-banned-tracking-the-action-state-by-state.

Rubio, Marco, and Mike Gallagher. “Icymi: Rubio and Gallagher Call for National Tiktok Ban.” U.S. Senator for Florida, Marco Rubio, 10 Nov. 2022, https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2022/11/icymi-rubio-and-gallagher-call-for-national-tiktok-ban.

U.S. Congress, “S.1143 – 117th Congress (2021-2022): No TikTok on Government Devices Act.” Congress.gov, Library of Congress, 15 December 2022, https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/1143/text.