By consensus, that is, without the need to submit the project to a vote, the United States Senate approved this Wednesday ban tiktok app on official devices of federal government employees. In any case, the new regulation still must be endorsed in the House of Representatives to become law.

The decision comes after several lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, suggested that data collected by the popular short video application can get into the hands of the Chinese government.

The rule approved today by the Upper House would prevent the download of the application on any device used for work purposes by federal government officials.

A few years ago, as part of his strategy to increase pressure on China, the then President of the United States, Donald Trump, gave TikTok an ultimatum to transfer its operations to American companies if he did not want to be banned in the country.

However, this did not end up happening, and today the application continues to be owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, which has assured on several occasions that it does not share user data with the authorities of the Asian country.

TikTok has more than 100 million users in the United States and has become one of the most popular social networks in the world in a short time, especially among teenagers.

For TikTok the measure has “political motivations”

A spokesman for the social network of Chinese origin said that “it is concerning that, instead of encouraging the government to conclude the national security review of Tik Tok, some members of Congress have decided to push for a politically motivated ban, which does not He will do nothing for the national security of the United States.”

“Tik Tok is loved by millions of Americans who use the platform to learn, grow in their activities, and connect with creative content that brings joy,” he said, referring to the bipartisan law announced by Senator Marco Rubio.

In that sense, he added: “We will continue to inform members of Congress about the plans that were developed under the supervision of the most important national security agencies in the country – plans in the process of being implemented – to make our platform in the United States even more secure. “.

The multi-state advance

States like Texas, Alabama or Tennessee, had already charged against TikTok at the local level, while territories like Indiana filed lawsuits against ByteDance for allegedly allowing Chinese espionage.

“The application TikTok is a malicious threat released to unsuspecting consumers in Indiana by a Chinese company that knows full well the harm it inflicts on users,” Attorney General Todd Rokita said in a statement.

The lawsuit notes that TikTok’s algorithms serve “abundant content featuring alcohol, tobacco, and drugs; sexual content, nudity, and suggestive themes” to users as young as 13.

Indiana also sued TikTok for allegedly misleading users into believing that “huge amounts of highly sensitive personal information and data” was protected from the Chinese government.

On Tuesday night, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum banned the use of TikTok on state government-owned devices, as well as browsing the platform’s website on those devices.

“TikTok raises many concerns about the amount of data it collects and how that data can be shared with and used by the Chinese government,” Burgum said in a statement.

Last week, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, banned the use of the app and certain platforms based in China and Russia on state electronic devices. Shortly before, the Republican governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, announced a similar measure.

Additionally, South Carolina Republican Gov. Henry McMaster asked the state Department of Administration last week to ban TikTok on all government devices, while Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, a Republican, made the same determination in August 2020.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin Republican lawmakers last week called on Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to remove the app from all state government devices, calling it a threat to national security.

The US military has also banned the app on military devices. Texas, for its part, required “aggressive action” against TikTok on Wednesday.

With information from agencies.