Federal agencies hit deadline to rid TikTok from government devices

Federal agencies have hit the deadline to comply with the Biden administration’s directive to get TikTok off of government systems and devices.

In response to growing national security issues over its parent company ByteDance and its ties to the Chinese Communist Party, the White House gave companies 30 days last month to confirm that the well-known China-affiliated short-form video game was not on any public systems.

RAND PAUL RANKS AGAINST THE FIRST Article WITH THE GOP ON TIKTOK BAN.

Similarly actions have been taken by some governments, including those of Canada, Taiwan, the European Union, and numerous other nations. On February 27, the White House issued a letter outlining the restrictions, according to Reuters. According to the report, companies were already given 90 days by IT services to deal with TikTok and 120 days to stop using it in new solicitations.

Congress is considering several pieces of legislation to outlaw the use of TikTok across the country as companies race toward the date for the ban.

Sen. Mark Warner( D-VA ) and Senate Minority Whip John Thune( R-SD ) have put forth a proposal to grant the Biden administration the authority to forbid the social media app. Sen. Marco Rubio( R-FL ) has proposed outright banning it. The House Energy and Commerce Committee held a reading on TikTok last week to discuss its relations to China.

Issues that the CCP might steal American information from TikTok and use it as a tool for Chinese spying have been fueled by China’s plan of civil-military fusion.

Shou Zi Chew, the Director of TikTok, minimized the party ties to Beijing during the hearing last month. He acknowledged that ByteDance might have some connection to US details, but he emphasized Project Texas as a strategy to deal with those issues.

Last year, a swarm of TikTok celebrities gathered on the Capitol to fight against the prohibition, but legislators seemed to be unconvinced by their clout.

TikTok has been under review by the head of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Although the White House has emphasized issues about TikTok’s national security, it has not fully endorsed a federal ban on the platform.

At a lecture earlier this month, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby stated that the President has” really been very consistent about our problems in terms of Big Tech, particularly some social media products, and that includes TikTok.” There isn’t a lot I can talk about right now because the CFIUS survey is in progress.

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Although some separatists have voiced concerns about free speech, there has been largely bipartisan support for a federal ban.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowman, Ilhan Omar, and conservative Sen. Rand Paul( R-Kyuan) have all spoken out against a nationwide ban.