Republican Florida Rep. Michael Waltz said Friday he plans to introduce a rule in the next Congress to ban members of Congress from using the social media platform TikTok.
TikTok, one of the largest social media applications in the world, has over 94 million active users in the United States. Its ownership by ByteDance, a Chinese parent company, makes it the foreign-owned application most used by Americans. U.S. officials have called for the app to either be banned or sold to an American owner.
“The Biden administration has used TikTok to get their message out. Are they sending the wrong message, that this is a safe platform?” Fox News host Sandra Smith asked Waltz. (RELATED: Mike Pence Says White House Likely ‘Keeping A Close Eye’ On Twitter Because Musk May Look Into Hunter Biden’s Laptop)
“Yes they are. You have Chris Wray the FBI director listing why its a national security threat in testimony for all the reasons we just talked about,” Waltz responded. “The Indian government has completely banned it, other governments like Japan and Indonesia are considering banning it.”
“I’m going to introduce a rule for this next Congress saying members of Congress cannot use it on their official phones.”
Florida Congressman @MichaelGWaltz on TikTok: “Yes, they are [a national security threat]…I’m going to introduce a rule…that members of Congress cannot use it on their official phones.”
They should also ban congressional staffers from using it. pic.twitter.com/RZmpE5iGay
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) December 2, 2022
Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem issued an executive order Tuesday banning TikTok use on state devices, saying that, “The Chinese Communist Party uses information that it gathers on TikTok to manipulate the American people, and they gather data off the devices that access the platform.”