Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) delivered remarks on the Senate Floor following the Senate’s passage of his legislation to ban federal employees from using TikTok on government devices.
“Last night, the Senate took the important step of unanimously on a bipartisan basis passing legislation to ban TikTok on all government devices. […] Never has the security threat to the American people from the Chinese Communist Party been more grave, and never has the determination on the part of the Chinese Communist Party to leverage every possible asset, every possible platform to gather information, personal information from the American people, been more serious than it is now. That is why last night’s action by this body is so critical,” said Senator Hawley.
Senator Hawley originally introduced the legislation last Congress and it unanimously passed the Senate in August 2020. In April 2021, Senators Hawley, Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Rubio (R-Fla.), and Cotton (R-Ark.) reintroduced the legislation and it unanimously passed in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Senator Hawley has held hearings on the security concerns around TikTok since 2019, and questioned company representatives as recently as September 14, 2022.