U.S. lawmakers to include ban on TikTok on government devices

[discocrisco01]

Source: Reuters

U.S. lawmakers will include a proposal to bar federal government employees from using Chinese app TikTok on government-owned devices in a key spending bill, sources told Reuters on Monday.

The Senate last week voted on a bill sponsored by Republican Senator Josh Hawley to bar federal employees from using the ByteDance-owned short video app on government-owned devices. It was the latest action by U.S. lawmakers to crack down on Chinese companies amid national security fears.

The ban is set to be included in a massive omnibus measure to fund U.S. government operations that is expected to be voted on this week, the sources said.

The proposal last week won the backing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/us-lawmakers-to-include-ban-on-tiktok-on-government-devices-sources/ar-AA15tf16

[Beautiful Disaster]

1. I'm okay with this. But I disagree with those who want to ban tiktok outright.

[AZLD4Candidate]

2. Sorry. TikTok is a propaganda tool of the CCP. Always has been

It should be treated as such.

They use it to data mine, and if you believe it when the CCP says it doesn't, or the Communist Party members say they don't, you need to learn how the CCP works.

[MichMan]

3. Yet some in congress will vote against banning it for government employees

[Beautiful Disaster]

6. Nope. Sorry.

When you start limiting what social media Americans have access to, you basically open the door to limiting freedom of speech. Imagine Republicans pushing to ban DU and other liberal sites under the pretense they're a national security threat.

The government should have no say in what I'm lawfully doing on my phone. Any limits is the most egregious attempts to limit speech and any good liberal should oppose such an overreach.

[AZLD4Candidate]

7. DU isn't run by a corrupt regime. TikTok is.

[Beautiful Disaster]

8. No dice. Come back with a stronger point.

When you limit what is and isn't acceptable, you open the door to the opposition picking what they deem acceptable too. You cannot have it both ways. It doesn't just begin and end with TikTok. The rationale to ban TikTok could easily be applied by others to attack groups that are deemed a threat to national security - including liberal websites like DU.

If you value free speech, you cannot support banning something just because you don't like who owns it. It's that simple.

[AZLD4Candidate]

9. Since I am talking to someone who doesn't understand how the CCP operates, I'm ending this

Enjoy your phone being data mined by one of the most repressive regimes in the world.

[Beautiful Disaster]

10. This isn't about the CCP. It's about the right to choose what you can legally do.

My phone is being data mined by everyone anyway - including people who own this site. Whether it's China doing it or Twitter or Facebook - it is what it is. It's my choice to accept that, as it should be anyone's choice. It's appalling that anyone would think the government has the right to ban you from using something. That's one step closer to authoritarianism, which, ironically, is something China is really good at (banning things left and right).

Seems you're on board with turning America into China. I am not.

[Skittles]

4. I guess I don't understand why social media is on government devices

?

[RandySF]

5. I was about to write the very same thing.