House Republicans are drafting legislation prohibiting federal employees from using TikTok.
"We're working on something right now," a Republican aide told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The House Judiciary Committee is reportedly proceeding with the proposal before the next Congress is seated next month.
TikTok is owned by the Chinese tech giant ByteDance, which is required under China's 2017 National Intelligence Law to share its data with the Chinese Communist Party upon request.
Since the Federal Communications Commission stated that it could not regulate the social media app and its data flow back to China, security concerns have continued to grab the attention of lawmakers.
TikTok officials have since told the FCC that the company is confident that it can reach an agreement with the federal government regarding national security concerns; however, leaked audio obtained by BuzzFeed News earlier this year showed that China had accessed U.S. TikTok user data for months while U.S. employees did not have access themselves.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., introduced legislation last month to completely ban the app in the U.S., warning that the CCP uses it to "subtly indoctrinate American citizens."
"TikTok is a major threat to U.S. national security," Rubio and Gallagher said.
"Unless TikTok and its algorithm can be separated from Beijing, the app's use in the United States will continue to jeopardize our country's safety and pave the way for a Chinese-influenced tech landscape here," the lawmakers added.
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