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U.S. Representative from Wisconsin proposes federal TikTok ban


{p}U.S. Reps. Glenn Grothman and Mike Gallagher sit on a panel during the Wisconsin Republican Party state convention May 21, 2022.{/p}

U.S. Reps. Glenn Grothman and Mike Gallagher sit on a panel during the Wisconsin Republican Party state convention May 21, 2022.

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MADISON, Wis. — U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-De Pere) joined two U.S. senators Tuesday in introducing a federal ban on the Chinese-based social media app TikTok over concerns that the Chinese government could collect Americans’ data.

In a statement released with the legislation, Gallagher said allowing TikTok to operate in the United States equates to allowing the USSR to own the New York Times during the Cold War.

“TikTok is digital fentanyl that’s addicting Americans, collecting troves of their data, and censoring their news,” Gallagher said. “No country with even a passing interest in its own security would allow this to happen, which is why it’s time to ban TikTok and any other [Chinese Communist Party]-controlled app before it’s too late.”

The lawmakers say that any data collected by TikTok’s parent company ByteDance could be easily intercepted and analyzed by the Chinese government. Earlier this month, Gallagher joined his fellow Republicans from Wisconsin’s congressional delegation in calling on Gov. Tony Evers to ban the app from all state-owned phones.

“That TikTok, and by extension the CCP, has the ability to survey every keystroke teenagers enter on their phones is disturbing,” Gallagher wrote in a Washington Post op-ed with U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in November. “With this app, Beijing could also collect sensitive national security information from U.S. government employees and develop profiles on millions of Americans to use for blackmail or espionage.”

In response, a spokesperson for the governor said that the Evers administration continues to defer to law enforcement, cybersecurity, and counterintelligence experts on possible cybersecurity issues like TikTok.

“Our administration and the Department of Administration’s Division of Enterprise Technology take cybersecurity very seriously and regularly consult the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and counterintelligence specialists in making decisions about cybersecurity for state government devices,” the spokesperson said.

The governor’s office also confirmed that the Evers campaign did manage a TikTok, but under ethics laws, it could not have been hosted on a state-owned phone.

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