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Politics

Pelosi Backs TikTok Ban for Government Phones in Spending Bill

  • Senate already passed bill to keep app off US-issued devices
  • Concerns raised about data sharing with Chinese authorities
The bill is a response to rising concerns that TikTok and its parent, China’s ByteDance Ltd., could share information on US users with Chinese authorities.

The bill is a response to rising concerns that TikTok and its parent, China’s ByteDance Ltd., could share information on US users with Chinese authorities.

Photographer: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw her support behind banning TikTok on government phones as part of a must-pass government spending bill coming to a House vote next week.

The TikTok ban, sponsored by Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, unanimously passed the Senate on Wednesday night. While the White House and other agencies already ban the use of the social media app on government-owned phones, the new law would expand that to all government agencies. It has an exception for law enforcement, research and intelligence gathering uses.