United States of America you have a problem with TikTok. In its six-year life, the video platform It has grown at a speed never seen before in the world of social media and has become a very important tool in shaping the culture of the country with more than 1 billion users worldwide. However, this remarkable achievement unborn Silicon valleyThe haven of the US tech industry, but Chinesebiggest geopolitical rival Washington.
TikTok’s continued expansion has worried the White House for years. President in August 2020 donald trump threatened to ban the app from working in the US “for national security reasons”Realizing that it could be harmlessly adopted by millions of Americans and used by Beijing as a Trojan horse to spy on its citizens. While the current administration, led by Joe Biden, hasn’t gone that far, Congress is preparing to pass a law banning TikTok from being used on federal government-owned devices.
on December 13 The Senate voted in favor of a bill that would ban federal employees from using the video app owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.. This Tuesday, US legislators included the measure in their $1.66 trillion general spending bill to fund the functioning of the federal government and prevent its shutdown, which was voted on Tuesday. If approved, it will be the biggest restriction on TikTok in the US to date. If the law persists, the White House will be given 60 days to “develop rules and guidelines for executive agencies that require removal” of the platform.
The measure, which succeeded in uniting Democrats and Republicans, will not affect more than 100 million US citizens using the app. Public employees will also be able to access TikTok only from their mobile phones and personal computers.
restrictions are growing
Many federal agencies, such as the White House itself or the United States Department of Defense, They’re already banning TikTok from being used on government devices, something the armed forces do too. Now the restriction will be extended to include other institutions and public institutions. About 19 out of 50 US states have more or less restrictively blocked access to the Chinese platform. Another bill banning TikTok completely was rejected by the Senate.
This wave of bans came in response to fears that under Chinese law Beijing might require ByteDance to surrender. data Users from any country In the past months, from the director FBI The Senate Intelligence Committee has warned of the risks of TikTok and even called for it to be blocked. In addition to being used for espionage purposes, the company is also accused of using the platform to distribute content for its own interests. chinese communist government censoring offensive messages abroad or for the regime.
TikTok has denied these “false” accusations, allowing it to securely store data at hubs outside the Asian giant, which they say will allow them to evade their demands. In fact, TikTok does not exist in China, where ByteDance has created another “app” that monitors Beijing’s propaganda and censorship policies. According to the New York Times, the Biden Administration will be about to reach an agreement with TikTok. While this is not happening, Washington continues to implement the stick and carrot policy.