Pelosi backs banning TikTok from government devices as scrutiny ramps up
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News is heating up on the "TikTok ban" front, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi weighing in on whether government employees should be able to use the Chinese-owned social app even as regulation of the short-video sensation ramps up in the federal and state governments.
After mulling the issue Thursday, Pelosi on Friday came out in support of including a ban of TikTok on government devices in the high-stakes government spending bill headed for a House vote, Punchbowl News reported.
It would pair with ban legislation that unanimously passed the Senate Wednesday, amid growing concerns that TikTok and parent ByteDance (BDNCE) could share data on American users with China.
The House and Senate are expected to spend the weekend and coming days debating fiscal 2023 spending legislation reaching to $1.7T, though there is broad agreement on the outlines.
At the state level, a number of states have acted as recently as Thursday to ban TikTok on state devices. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed an executive order banning the app from state devices. That's been matched by similar action (of various intensities) in Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.
And Sen. Marco Rubio has been pushing legislation for an outright ban of the app from operating in the United States, with the help of GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher and Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi.
Meanwhile, TikTok is reportedly cutting Russian staffers after it suspended key services in the country earlier this year.
Any restriction of TikTok in America has implications for the number of rivals who have hustled out their own short-form video alternatives, including Reels at Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), YouTube Shorts (GOOG) (GOOGL) and videos at Snap (SNAP).