NewsNational News

Actions

Sen. Hawley proposes nationwide ban of TikTok

Josh Hawley
Posted at 6:08 PM, Jan 25, 2023
and last updated 2023-01-25 18:21:15-05

Sen. Josh Hawley plans on introducing legislation to ban TikTok nationwide.

The Senator from Missouri has repeatedly warned about potential security concerns, noting that the platform is run by a company based in china.

"It threatens our children’s privacy as well as their mental health," Hawley stated on Twitter.

Congress banned TikTok on all executive agency phones when it passed the omnibus bill in December. There are exceptions for law enforcement, national security interests and security researchers.

Numerous states have also banned TikTok on government devices, citing security concerns.

ByteDance, the company that runs TikTok, has defended its record amid accusations that it answers to the Chinese government. It adds that U.S. user data is stored outside of China.

TikTok is one of the most popular apps in the U.S. It reportedly has about 80 million monthly U.S. users.