(The Center Square) – Arkansas Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, has filed a bill to ban the social media app TikTok from state-owned social media devices.
Members of both political parties have scrutinized TikTok for its possible ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
“Christopher Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has warned that the data collection practices of ByteDance may be used to influence Americans or control or compromise software on millions of devices,” Stubblefield said in his bill. “The Communist Party of China may obtain access to this personal information obtained through the data collection policies of ByteDance because ByteDance is headquartered in China and Chinese national security laws compel companies operating in China to share their user information data with the Communist Party of China upon request.”
The bill says that a state employee who downloads TikTok is “guilty of a violation,” but the bill does not elaborate on what the violation is or what the penalty would be.
Last week, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem issued an executive order banning the app from state-owned devices. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued a similar ban on Monday, as did Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday.
Members of Congress are also calling for a TikTok ban.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., is co-sponsoring legislation with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., that calls for a nationwide ban.
“TikTok is owned by ByteDance. ByteDance is controlled by the CCP. That means the CCP can track your location,’ Gallagher said. “It can track your keystrokes. It can censor your news. Why would we give our foremost adversary that amount of power?”
