(Image source from: Financialexpress.com)
US Senate votes to ban TikTok on government-owned devices:- The US Senate on Wednesday passed a bill to ban federal employees from using TikTok, a Chinese-owned video-sharing application that is widely popular across the globe. All government-owned devices will be barred from using TikTok. The bill has to be approved by the US Hose of Representatives before it goes to the President Joe Biden for approval. The House of Representatives will have to pass the Senate bill before the session ends and this will happen before next weekend. USA has been keen to restrict Chinese companies and their products amid national security fears. USA suspects that China could use them to spy on the Americans. Several states in USA have banned TikTok and the Senate action comes after North Dakota and Iowa joined the list. TikTok is owned by ByteDance.
In August 2020, the Senate approved legislation to ban TikTok from all the government devices. Republican Senator Josh Hawley introduced the bill in the legislation in 2021. The American defense, Homeland Security and state departments banned TikTok long ago from the government-owned devices. The American government feels that TikTok is a major risk for security. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds directed the agencies to ban the download of the app on the equipments owned by the government. More than a dozen American states have taken such actions including Utah and Alabama. Republican Senator Marco Rubio on Tuesday unveiled bipartisan legislation to ban TikTok in the United States.
