US Senate agrees to ban TikTok from public servants’ work phones

WASHINGTON (AP/BLOOMBERG) — The U.S. Senate has unanimously approved the banning of the popular TikTok app from the work phones of U.S. government officials. According to the initiator of the bill, the Chinese application is “a Trojan horse for the Chinese Communist Party”. The bill still needs to be passed by the House of Representatives before the law takes effect.

There are many fears in the United States that TikTok and parent company ByteDance could share US user information with Chinese authorities. FBI Director Christopher Wray warned last month that Chinese companies are required by law to share information if the Chinese government wishes.

The US government has already tried to reach an agreement with TikTok. It was to provide additional security safeguards for storing user data, insiders report to the Bloomberg news agency. This agreement fell through after the Ministry of Justice blocked it. It is also questionable to what extent the agreement can actually protect US users’ data from abuse.