United States: US Senator Mr. Mark Warner announced that the US would be submitting bipartisan legislation this week to allow the government to “ban or prohibit” foreign technology products like TikTok, which is owned by China.
Mr. Warner stated that he and Senator Mr. John Thune will introduce the bill, continuing “I’ve got a broad Bipartisan bill that I’m launching with my friend John Thune will be the Republican lead where we’re going to say, in terms of foreign technology coming into America, we’ve got to have a systemic approach to make sure that we can ban or prohibit it when necessary.”
The White House last week told federal agencies 30 days to make sure TikTok is not installed on any equipment or systems that are used by the government. Similar laws prohibiting the use of TikTok by government organisations have been passed in a number of states, including Maryland, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas due to security concerns.
Furthermore, TikTok has been forbidden from being installed on state-owned smartphones by more than 30 US states, Canada, and European Union policy authorities. The Canadian government blocked the short-form video app TikTok from official electronic devices.
Government-issued devices will be blocked from downloading TikTok, and existing installations of the app will be removed, as per the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. According to the report, Following a review of TikTok, the Chief Information Officer of Canada determined that it presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.