Rick Scott: Ban TikTok on Government Phones Due to Cybersecurity, Chinese Spying Concerns

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is championing a proposal to ban the use of TikTok on government devices.

Before going into self-quarantine after coming into contact with the Brazilian president’s press secretary, who tested positive for coronavirus, Scott threw his support behind U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley’s, R-Mo., proposal making sure federal employees do not have TikTok on their smart phones.

“The State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and TSA have already banned TikTok on federal government devices due to cybersecurity concerns and possible spying by the Communist Chinese government,” Scott’s office noted about the popular app.

“TikTok is owned by a Chinese company that includes Chinese Communist Party members on its board, and it is required by law to share user data with Beijing,” Hawley said. “The company even admitted it collects user data while their app is running in the background – including the messages people send, pictures they share, their keystrokes and location data, you name it. As many of our federal agencies have already recognized, TikTok is a major security risk to the United States, and it has no place on government devices.”

“The use of apps like TikTok by federal employees on government devices is a risk to our networks and a threat to our national security, and I’m proud to join Senator Hawley to put an end to it. We should all be very concerned about the threat of Communist China, and I hope my colleagues will join me to implement this ban immediately and protect our national security,” Scott said on Thursday.

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is also backing the proposal which was sent to the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday. So far, there is no counterpart over in the U.S. House.

Reach Kevin Derby at kevin.derby@floridadaily.com.