US politicians criticized TikTok as a threat to national security (portrayal)
Washington:
The United States Senate unanimously passed a bill on Thursday to ban the TikTok video-sharing app on government devices.
“I just passed my bill banning TikTok on government devices in the Senate. Unanimous,” Senator Josh Hawley posted on Twitter.
The bill will now go to President Donald Trump to be signed into law, which will ban federal employees from downloading or using TikTok – and all other apps developed by its Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance – on any issued device. by the US government. or a government company.
Senator Hawley tweeted his special thanks to Senator Rick Scott, his “first and first co-sponsor of this bill, for his leadership and for joining me in seeing the bill passed.” Josh Hawley first introduced the bill in March this year.
Senator Scott also praised the Senate for the unanimous verdict, which called as “a powerful message” to companies run by the Chinese Communist Party.
“Today, the US Senate sent a powerful message to all companies controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. Companies like TikTok, under Communist China control, are forced to spy, steal user data and censor any content desired by the government, ”said Senator Scott. in a statement he attached with his message applauding the Senate decision.
“I am pleased that the Senate has agreed to pass my bill with Senator Hawley today to ban this application on government devices, thus eliminating a threat to US networks and national security,” he said. added.
US President Donald Trump had set September 15 as the deadline for TikTok to find a US buyer, failing which he announced he would close the app in the country.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday the Trump administration was “working hard” to protect Americans against threats from “untrustworthy vendors” such as Tik Tok and WeChat, which it wants to remove from app stores American like those managed by Apple. and Google. Mike Pompeo also announced on Wednesday a five-pronged “clean network” to verify potential risks to US national security from China.
Additionally, US politicians have repeatedly criticized TikTok, owned by Beijing-based start-up ByteDance, as a national security threat due to its ties to China. China and the United States are at odds on a variety of issues, including Hong Kong’s national security law, the South China Sea, the novel coronavirus and trade.
On Monday, Microsoft announced its decision to continue discussions with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, in a few weeks and, in any case, to end these discussions by September 15 at the latest.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
