December 22, 2022
The ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act (Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act) and the No TikTok on Government Devices Act are making waves in the Senate and going through a steady process in the House. They are both attempting to prohibit the use of TikTok on devices issued by the American government.
The No TikTok on Government Devices Act cleared a major hurdle in Congress on Wednesday, passing the Senate with unanimous consent, and it is expected to become law in the coming days to avert a partial government shutdown after being added to the $1.7 Trillion Omnibus Spending Bill.
Apart from the Senate’s bill, TikTok, the short form video app with over a billion downloads on the Google Play Store, has at least 20 states on its tail, and the idea of a TikTok ban has become increasingly popular since the company was shown to be breaking its word about shipping United States user data off to employees in China.
The No TikTok on Government Devices Act, sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), passed the Senate last week but had not yet passed the House. The bill previously passed the Senate in 2020. TikTok, “or any successor application or service… by ByteDance Limited or an entity owned by ByteDance Limited,” the Chinese parent company that owns TikTok, must be removed from government tech and devices, according to the proposal.
Even in the absence of the bill, all branches of the military have prohibited its use on government devices and strongly discouraged its use on personal devices.
The sources for this piece include an article in CPOMagazine.
