The U.S. Congress is on the cusp of approving a nationwide ban on using TikTok on government devices because of perceived security risks -- thrusting the hugely popular video-sharing platform into a delicate position over Washington's ties to China.
After a Senate vote last week, the U.S. House of Representatives could this week adopt a law prohibiting the use of TikTok on the professional phones of civil servants.
The measure would follow bans in nearly 20 U.S. states, where Republicans have led the attack against TikTok, arguing that its ownership by Chinese firm ByteDance makes the app unsafe for Americans.
"The fundamental problem is this...TikTok is owned by ByteDance which is effectively controlled by the Chinese Communist Party," Republican congressman Mike Gallagher explained to CNN.
But what has long been a rallying cry for conservatives is becoming increasingly widespread among their Democratic colleagues, to the point that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last week she was in favor of putting the draft to a vote.
"This is not a political issue between Republicans and Democrats. This is a United States issue that we need to address nationally," Ryan McDougle, a Republican state senator from Virginia who has been at the forefront of the issue, told AFP.
Another bill, also introduced last week by representatives from both parties, calls for an outright ban on TikTok in the United States, though it does not seem likely to be taken up for a formal vote for now.
TikTok has worked hard to convince U.S. authorities that it is not a threat and that U.S. data is protected and stored on servers located in the United States.
But following media reports, it ..
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