Democratic senator calls for TikTok to be banned from app stores
Christopher Hutton
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A Democratic senator has joined a growing group of Republican lawmakers pushing for Big Tech platforms to remove TikTok on national security grounds because of its ties to China.
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) pushed for Google and Apple to take TikTok off their platforms in a letter sent on Thursday. The demand makes him just the latest lawmaker to push for TikTok’s removal. He is also one of a few Democrats who have sought to have the app banned from mobile devices.
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“Like most social media platforms, TikTok collects vast and sophisticated data from its users, including faceprints and voiceprints,” Bennet, who serves on the Intelligence Committee, wrote to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. “Unlike most social media platforms, TikTok poses a unique concern because Chinese law obligates ByteDance, its Beijing-based parent, to ‘support, assist, and cooperate with state intelligence work.'”
Bennet argues that this relationship with China could be weaponized by Communist Party leadership, a common refrain from Republican critics after revelations that the company had allowed China-based employees access to U.S. user data.
Bennet’s remarks are echoed by Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA), who claimed that TikTok has “a big mountain to climb” in order to prove the updates to its data protection practices are sufficient. Warner has also previewed legislation that would further restrictions on TikTok.
Congress and several states have passed legislation or implemented regulations prohibiting installing TikTok on government-operated devices.
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TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to speak before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on March 23.
The Foreign Affairs Committee is expected to vote on a bill next month that could ban the app outright in the U.S.