On Friday, two Republican senators, Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Rick Scott of Florida, proposed a bill to ban all federal employees from installing or using the app on any government-issued device, Reuters reports.
The bill, entitled the “No TikTok on Government Devices Act” would specifically ban the app from all government-issued work phones, Politico reports.
The bill does not mention whether or not federal employees would be allowed to download the app on their personal devices.
“TikTok is a major security risk to the United States, and it has no place on government devices,” Hawley said in a tweet.
“TikTok is owned by a Chinese company that includes Chinese Communist Party members on its board, and it is required by law to share user data with Beijing,” Hawley said, accoding to Reuters. “ As many of our federal agencies have already recognized, TikTok is a major security risk to the United States, and it has no place on government devices.”
TikTok officials have said the user data from the United States is not stored in China, and China does not have jurisdiction American TikTok content, the New York Post reports.
TikTok recently announced plans to build a transparency center in Los Angeles to help quell U.S. security concerns, the Wall Street Journal reports.
In November, the United States opened an official national security investigation into the video sharing app TikTok because of concerns about security risks presented by the app, and the potential to influence elections, the Deseret News reported.
In January, the United States Army banned soldiers from using the app on government-owned devices due to the cybersecurity risks the app presents.
Many soldiers continue to use TikTok, though, according to the Hill.