Omnibus Bill Expands TikTok Ban on Government Smartphones

The omnibus spending bill unveiled by lawmakers expands a ban on Chinese-owned TikTok on federal smartphones, but tough new measures targeting the tech industry didn’t make the cut. The inclusion of the proposal to ban TikTok comes after the Senate, led by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), passed the governmentwide ban measure separately. It is expected to be approved again by both chambers as part of the omnibus. The Pentagon, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration have already imposed similar bans on TikTok being downloaded on government-issued smartphones and other devices, on grounds that data collected on users could be shared with the Chinese government. The Biden administration is under fire for delays in negotiating an agreement with TikTok’s owner, Beijing-based ByteDance, aimed at preventing data on Americans from being shared with China’s authoritarian government. TikTok has repeatedly said that it safeguards the data of its users and wouldn’t share it with the Chinese government.