March 29, 2024
The US Senate passed restrictions on the use of TikTok by federal employees

The US Senate passed restrictions on the use of TikTok by federal employees

The US Senate has unanimously approved a bill that would ban federal servers from downloading or using the social networking site TikTok on government devices amid growing national security concerns.

The legislation still needs to pass the House of Representatives and be signed by the president to become law. A similar proposal passed the Senate in the previous Congress, although it did not advance to House approval.

U.S. officials and lawmakers from both parties have raised concerns about ByteDance, the Beijing-based company that owns the app.

In just five years, TikTok has exploded into a pop culture phenomenon, considered the most popular app in the world and used by two-thirds of American teenagers.

TikTok has repeatedly said it has never shared US user data with the Chinese government and would not share it if asked.

The application is currently undergoing the national security review process of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (Cfius).