Republicans Request Ban on TikTok Use by Congress Members Over Security Concerns

The TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken on Aug. 22, 2022. Dado Ruvic/Reuters

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), along with 15 other Republicans, are urging committee leaders to restrict TikTok’s use because of security concerns.

In an April 17 letter sent to the Senate Rules Committee and the Committee on House Administration, the lawmakers requested that the app be blocked for fellow members of Congress (pdf).

“We urge you to amend the House and Senate rules to bar members of Congress from continued use of TikTok and take any other appropriate measures to mitigate the risks of this de-facto, spyware app,” the Republican lawmakers wrote.

Referring to a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on TikTok held in March, they wrote that it “became blatantly clear to the public that the China-based app is mining data and potentially spying on American citizens.”

The legislators deemed it “troublesome” that members of Congress continue to use TikTok despite previous advisory warnings about the app’s data vulnerabilities.

“Some members of Congress who regularly use the app have minimized the security threat to our nation, and their defense is not compelling, considering there are several popular social media apps that are not at the same risk for the potential transfer of sensitive, private information to an adversarial foreign government,” the letter reads.

Members of Congress from both parties have attempted to limit TikTok’s influence. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) are the principal sponsors of the RESTRICT Act (pdf), which provides the Commerce Department with the authority to restrict technology agreements with countries of national concern to the United States.

Those countries include China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela, which have adversarial relations with the United States. The Biden administration has voiced its support for the legislation.

Some have criticized the RESTRICT Act because of concerns that it'll expand government overreach beyond TikTok and restrict free speech.

Beginning in 2020, the top cybersecurity officials in each chamber issued internal guidance on Capitol Hill discouraging staff from installing or using TikTok. Because ByteDance, a Chinese company, owns the TikTok app, there are concerns that the Chinese government may gain access to the app’s vast quantities of user data.

There are an estimated 150 million monthly American users of the video app, including some legislators who use the platform to communicate with constituents via videos about their activities in Washington and back home.

On April 14, Montana lawmakers voted to ban TikTok across the state. The legislation was given final approval by a vote of 54–43 in the Republican-led state House.

If the bill is enacted, Montana will be the first state in the United States to prohibit the platform entirely.