When asked on Friday if she would back a bipartisan effort to block the social media app TikTok from government phones due to national security concerns, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., remained mute, Fox News informed.
Ocasio-Cortez hinted to having a TikTok account last year when she informed her Instagram followers that she was “lurking, waiting for my opportunity” to unveil her username.
But in recent months, TikTok has been under increased scrutiny from legislators, state officials, and federal law enforcement organizations. They are worried that ByteDance, a Chinese corporation, which owns the video-sharing network, may pose security problems and put consumers at danger of data breaches.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., proposed legislation that would forbid some people from downloading or using TikTok on any device provided by the federal government, and the Senate unanimously approved it on Wednesday.
TikTok is the Chinese Communist Party’s Trojan Horse. According to Hawley, it poses a serious security danger to the United States and has no place on federal equipment until it is compelled to entirely cut links with China. States all throughout the United States have banned TikTok on official devices. It’s time for Democrats and Joe Biden to support similar efforts.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters that she would favor putting the resolution in the roughly $2 trillion federal funding plan that the House is scheduled to vote on next week after the Senate passed the measure.
Congress should take additional action, according to other lawmakers. This week, three lawmakers—Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Reps. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, and Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois—introduced their own bills that would effectively outlaw TikTok across the country.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, among other federal agencies, have continued to issue advisories about the app’s close ties to the Chinese government, prompting the attempt on Capitol Hill to outlaw TikTok.
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