Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced he would introduce new legislation to ban TikTok in the United States.
.@tiktok_us is China’s backdoor into Americans’ lives. It threatens our children’s privacy as well as their mental health. Last month Congress banned it on all government devices. Now I will introduce legislation to ban it nationwide
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) January 24, 2023
Senator Hawley’s No TikTok on Government Devices Act was signed into law last year.
He originally introduced the legislation in 2020 and it unanimously passed the Senate later that year. In April 2021, Senator Hawley reintroduced the legislation and it unanimously passed in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The bill unanimously passed the Senate in December of 2022, and was signed into law December 29, 2022.
Senator Hawley has held hearings on the security concerns around TikTok since 2019, and questioned company representatives as recently as September 14, 2022.
