New legislation has been created against TikTok within the U.S. government.

On Dec. 14, the Senate unanimously passed Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s bill to ban the social media giant on all U.S. government devices, according to a statement.

The vote comes after security concerns from U.S. officials.

“TikTok is a Trojan Horse for the Chinese Communist Party,” said Sen. Hawley, according to the statement. “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. 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.”

 

Some of the states that have banned TikTok from government devices include:

  • Alabama
  • Utah
  • North Dakota
  • Iowa
  • Maryland
  • South Carolina
  • Texas
  • Nebraska

The Washington Post reports that the bill would have to gain the House’s stamp of approval before the end of the year’s congressional session.

In addition to approval from the House, it would need President Biden’s signature to become law.

“Once again, Sen. Hawley has moved forward with legislation to ban TikTok on government devices, a proposal which does nothing to advance U.S. national security interests,” the spokesperson shared with The Washington Post. “We hope that rather than continuing down that road, he will urge the Administration to move forward on an agreement that would actually address his concerns.”

This isn’t the first instance of Hawley’s anti-TikTok legislation.

Back in August 2020 of last Congress, it unanimously passed the Senate.



On Dec. 13, Sen. Marco Rubio introduced a bipartisan bill against TikTok, according to a statement.

Rubio is seeking for the app to be completely banned from the U.S. because he claims Beijing is able to surveil U.S. -based users and the owners want to negatively influence people.

“This isn’t about creative videos — this is about an app that is collecting data on tens of millions of American children and adults every day. We know it’s used to manipulate feeds and influence elections,” he said in a statement.