Security News > 2022 > December > TikTok could be banned from America, thanks to proposed bipartisan bill

The US government's crackdown on TikTok continues, with the latest salvo being a bipartisan bill that would outright ban the popular social media app from doing business in the country.

Several US states have already banned the app on government-owned devices, while Indiana has sued TikTok for inflicting harm on residents.

The bill [PDF] names TikTok and its parent company ByteDance as particular targets, but not the only ones - any company that meets the criteria would be subject to the bill's restrictions.

Multiple states have banned TikTok on government devices, while Rubio and Gallagher telegraphed their intentions in November with a joint Washington Post op-ed arguing for a total ban on TikTok in the US. "In China, no company is truly private. Under the country's 2017 National Intelligence Law, all citizens and businesses are required to assist in intelligence work, which includes sharing data," the pair said in the article.

The news came out of the discovery that US TikTok user data was being transmitted overseas to Chinese servers, which TikTok said at the time it would put an end to.

TikTok hasn't responded to The Register's questions about the new ban bills, but Hilary McQuaide, TikTok's global head of communications, told CNN it was "Troubling" that members of Congress would push to end the Biden administration's national security review of TikTok and implement a ban "That will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States."

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/12/14/tiktok_ban_proposed_us/