(RightIsRight.co) – The U.S. House of Representatives has moved to ban the TikTok viral video app from smartphones and other devices owned by the U.S. government because of “high-risk security concerns.”
TikTok has over 1 billion active users worldwide. The social media app is owned by its parent company, ByteDance, based in Communist China.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and President Xi Jinping have cracked down on tech companies in recent years to keep or bring them in line with the regime’s policies, leading to reasonable doubts about Beijing’s informal control over TikTok.
However, reports from last year said a CCP operative had taken one of the three seats on ByteDance’s board, thus formalizing regime control over TikTok.
Acting upon concerns that Communist China may be using the viral video app to spy on U.S. citizens and institutions, several Republican-led US states have already moved to ban TikTok on their employee’s devices. These include Georgia, Montana, Alabama, and Iowa.
On Tuesday, the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives sent out a notice to all legislators and staffers immediately prohibiting the app from House-managed devices, Newsmax reported.
The ban comes after a ban on TikTok from U.S. government devices was passed as part of the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending law after last week, Republican U.S. Sen. John Hawley initiated legislation to that end.
In the House, the proposal to forbid the Chinese social media app was backed by both Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
“House staff are not allowed to download the TikTok app on any House mobile devices. If you have the TikTok app on your House mobile device, you will be contacted to remove it,” read the newly-issued notice.
“The Office of Cybersecurity has been [sic] deemed The TikTok mobile application to be a high security to risk to users due to a number of security risks,” the document added.
Other bodies of the federal government are expected to move to implement the TikTok ban shortly.
“TikTok is a Trojan Horse for the Chinese Communist Party. It’s a major security risk to the United States, and until it is forced to sever ties with China completely, it has no place on government devices,” Sen. Hawley said after the omnibus bill passed the Senate.
“States across the U.S. are banning TikTok on government devices. It’s time for Joe Biden and the Democrats to help do the same,” he declared.
U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday began banning the use of TikTok from House-managed devices due to “high risk” “security” concerns. https://t.co/S8hK94z3sw
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) December 27, 2022
