TikTok, the short form video app with more than a billion downloads on the Google Play Store, is facing increased scrutiny from state governments across the country. So far, at least 16 states have taken some official action against the app since 2020, either in the form of banning its use on government devices or lawsuits.
The app has also drawn attention in the federal policy space. On Wednesday, the Senate unanimously approved a bill that would require TikTok to be removed from all federal devices. On Tuesday, a group of federal lawmakers led by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduced a different proposal titled the “ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act” to ban the app generally in the United States.
Kurt Opsahl, deputy executive director and general counsel of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that states are within their rights to ban technology on their own devices. A wider ban, however, would stifle freedom of speech and censor political activism, he said.
“TikTok’s security, privacy and its relationship with the Chinese government is indeed concerning, but a total ban is not the answer,” Opsahl wrote in an…
