LONDON: TikTok has been the subject of much controversy lately, after the US Senate passed a measure prohibiting federal employees from accessing the popular Chinese-owned video-sharing app on government-owned devices on Wednesday.
Many people have voiced concerns that the app is a security risk and could be used to spy on users.
The issue has been a hot topic in the news, with Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, weighing in on the issue.
In the past, Pelosi has reportedly said she is “deeply concerned” about the potential security risks posed by the app and that she believes it should be banned in the US.
However, Pelosi — who is poised to step down from her position as leader of the House in January — said on Thursday she had yet to decide whether the House would join the Senate in backing legislation against TikTok.
“We are checking with the administration — just in terms of language, not in terms of being opposed to the idea,” Pelosi told reporters. “I do not know that that will be on the agenda next week, but it is very, very important.”
The issue has been a source of debate among lawmakers, with some arguing that the app should be banned in order to protect the security of users, while others have argued that banning the app would be a violation of free speech.
The controversy has been further complicated by the fact that the app is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance, which has been alleged to have ties to the Chinese government. This has led to fears that the Chinese government could use the app to collect data on users and potentially use it for malicious purposes.
On Monday, Alabama and Utah became the latest US states to bar the use of TikTok on state government devices and computer networks amid security concerns, and, on Tuesday, Republican Senator Marco Rubio announced bipartisan legislation to ban TikTok in the country, a move likely to ratchet up pressure on ByteDance and the Chinese government.
This is not the first time that TikTok has faced off against the US government. In 2020, then-President Donald Trump attempted to block new users from downloading TikTok and ban other transactions that would have effectively blocked the app’s use in the US, but ultimately lost a series of court battles.
Amid data-security threats, the Chinese app has been banned in India since June 2020 and, more recently, Russian users have been banned from uploading new content following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
In August, the UK government decided to close down the official parliamentary TikTok account because of the firm’s links to China, with speakers from the House of Commons and the House of Lords saying they were not consulted over the “pilot project” to engage younger audiences.
