Republican Sen. Marco Rubio announced the bipartisan legislation on Tuesday Ban the popular Chinese social media app TikTok, Pressure is mounting on owner Bytedance over fears the app could be used to spy on Americans or censor it.

legislation Block all transactions of any social media company under Chinese and Russian influenceRubio’s office said in a statement.

“We need to ban TikTok because it is controlled by a foreign government in China Collects personal data from over 50 million US mobile devices every day And you use them Track, influence, manipulate and divide our countryRubio said on the social network.

The senator confirmed that US companies are also collecting user data, adding: “This needs to be addressed. But TikTok is another level of danger. Not only do they collect data for their own use, but they are also monitored by the Chinese foreign government and directly provide them with our data. “

Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher and Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthy are sponsoring a similar bill in the US House of Representatives.

Bytedance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The popular app is often singled out for its alleged ties to the Beijing regime, and there are fears that China could use TikTok data to track and blackmail users around the world.

TikTok is currently negotiating with the US government to address national security issues in hopes of maintaining operations in one of its largest markets. The company said it is confident it is going to “fully meet all reasonable national security concerns of the United States.”

TikTok’s runaway success has left rival sites like Meta-owned Instagram and Snapchat struggling to catch up with once-booming ad revenue.

But FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers last month that he is “extremely concerned” about the security risks associated with TikTok.

More states are banning TikTok at the government level

Governor North DakotaPresident Doug Burgum has banned the popular video app TikTok from state-owned devices, joining other Republican governors who have done the same, citing Chinese ownership of the platform and growing national security concerns.

Burgum announced the executive order Tuesday night. In addition to prohibiting the use of TikTok on government devices or devices connected to the government network, it also prohibits visiting the platform’s website.

North Dakota is the latest state to denounce the cyber security risks posed by the platform.

Last week, Gov Maryland, also Republican Larry Hogan, banned TikTok and certain platforms based in China and Russia from being used on government electronic devices. Shortly before that, Republican Gov South DakotaKristi Noem announced a similar move.

Republican governor South CarolinaHenry McMaster last week asked the State Department to ban TikTok from all government devices. and the governor NebraskaRepublican Pete Ricketts blocked TikTok on state electronic devices in August 2020.

Meanwhile, Republican deputies from Wisconsin Last week, he called on Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to remove the app from all state government devices, calling it a national security threat.

The Our armed forces They also banned the app on military devices.

(According to Reuters, AFP and AP)

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