US Senator Releases Federal Officials Prohibition Of Playing TikTok

TikTok application illustration (unsplash)

JAKARTA - Two Republican United States (US) senators are planning to issue a bill (RUU), which prohibits federal employees from using the TikTok app. The ban was issued because the government was concerned that US user data would leak to the Chinese government.

According to Reuters, the reason senators Josh Hawley and Rick Scott issued the bill was because of the use of the application in US government department offices. Especially regarding security and national intelligence issues that can be accessed when using the TikTok application.

"TikTok is owned by a Chinese company that includes members of the Chinese Communist Party on the board and often violates the law by sharing user data," Hawley said, as quoted by VOI, Friday, March 13.

"As many of our federal agencies have recognized, TikTok is a major security risk for the United States, and there is no place for TikTok on government equipment," he added.

The same thing was also triggered by Hawley, to issue a ban for companies from China and Russia that have personal data security issues. Because the possibility of secret American data being stolen and used for spying is very prone to occur.

TikTok Raise Voice

The company from which the TikTok application was made did not remain silent, with plans for a US law to prohibit its application. In the near future, TikTok plans to have a dialogue with US lawmakers to explain TikTok's user policies.

"TikTok will open its representative office in Los Angeles, for disclosure of information and to ensure that no third party uses the personal data of its users," said a TikTok spokesperson.

TikTok is indeed quite defensive when lawmakers and other law enforcement agencies question the security of user data in its app. Moreover, there is an issue regarding the sharing of data between the Chinese government.

In terms of TikTok's popularity, it is indeed being favored by teenagers in the US. In the past two years alone, about 60 percent of TikTok's 26.5 million monthly active users, with an average age of 16 to 24 years.

In November 2019, the US government launched a national security review of TikTok owner, Beijing ByteDance Technology Co. for acquiring the US social media app Musical.ly for $ 1 billion.