US lawmakers to move forward with proposed bill to ban TikTok
U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Sunday that lawmakers will push ahead with a bill aimed at addressing national security concerns over TIK Tak.
It comes after TikTok CEO Show Zi Chu testified before a hostile House committee on Thursday as lawmakers debated a ban on the popular video-sharing app.
“The House will push legislation to protect Americans from the technological tentacles of the Chinese Communist Party,” McCarthy tweeted.
There are increasing calls in the United States to ban TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, or to pass a bipartisan bill giving President Joe Biden’s administration the legal authority to seek a ban.
In Thursday’s hearing, TikTok’s CEO was asked if the app was spying on Americans at Beijing’s request. Chu replied, “No.”
“It’s very disturbing that the CEO of TikTok can’t be honest and admit what we already know to be true – China has access to TikTok user data.” McCarthy, a Republican, said in a tweet.
Chu tried to reassure lawmakers that he will step up his data security efforts called “Project Texas,” which currently has about 1,500 full-time employees, and has contracted US-based Oracle to store TikTok user data in the US.
Rather than assuage lawmakers’ concerns, Chu’s speech to Congress on Thursday “actually increased the likelihood that Congress would take some action,” Wisconsin State Representative Mike Gallagher, Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on the Communist Party, told ABC News. China. Sunday.
This month, the White House gave government agencies 30 days to ensure that TikTok is not used on any federal devices and systems.
More than 30 states in the US, Canada, the UK and political institutions in the European Union have also banned TikTok downloads on government devices.
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