Josh Hawley bill would ban TikTok from government-issued phones. It’s expected to pass
As U.S. government officials continue to raise security concerns about TikTok, the app may soon be banned from the phones issued to government workers.
Tucked into a 4,155 page bill that will spend $1.7 trillion in the 2023 fiscal year is a two page provision pushed by Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, that will ban the social media service from government-issued phones.
The bill is currently making its way through Congress and is expected to be approved before Christmas.
“The least we can do is ban it on government devices, given that it’s a backdoor for the Chinese Communist Party,” Hawley told reporters in the Capitol on Tuesday. “So it’s a good step.”
But he said it is unlikely he will support the spending bill that includes his provision.
TikTok, a social media company featuring short videos, has more than 1 billion users. It uses an algorithm that predicts videos people might be interested in and is known for being a cultural trendsetter that can launch the careers of artists and influencers.
The federal government has raised concerns that information collected by the app’s owner, ByteDance, which is based in Beijing, could potentially be used by the Chinese Communist Party. FBI director Christopher Wray last month told Congress he believed the app was a national security threat that could be used to influence Americans or gain control of people’s devices.
A spokesperson for TikTok said Congress should have waited for an agreement under review by the Committee for Foreign Investment in the U.S. that seeks to allow TikTok to continue operating in the U.S. while preventing the Chinese government from getting data on users.
“We’re disappointed that Congress has moved to ban TikTok on government devices — a political gesture that will do nothing to advance national security interests — rather than encouraging the Administration to conclude its national security review,” a TikTok spokesperson said.
The app is particularly popular among younger Americans — more than 90% of its users are under the age of 50. More than one-third of the U.S. Senate is 70 or older.
The 42-year-old Hawley, who has frequently positioned himself as tough on China, has raised concerns about TikTok since 2019. He has attempted to get the app banned from government devices for the past two years. In 2020, he introduced a similar bill that unanimously passed the Senate but died in the House. The latest version of the bill passed the Senate unanimously earlier this month.
Through its inclusion in the large spending bill, the ban is likely to become law. The Senate is moving to quickly pass the bill so it can be approved by the House before the holidays.
Fellow Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt, who is on the Senate Intelligence Committee and gets briefings about threats to national security, said he was glad the TikTok provision made it into the bill.
“I’m on the Intel Committee, and I think not being on TikTok is a good thing,” Blunt said. “And it’s particularly a good thing for federal employees and federal officials.”
