Here’s all the processes and procedures.’”Įven so, Bowman and his allies on the issue say keeping potentially hostile software off of state devices is an easy decision. “They didn’t tell us that they weren’t legitimate, but they said: ‘These are all the things we’re doing. I definitely believe that cybersecurity is gonna be incredibly important in the coming decades.”īowman and other lawmakers met with representatives from TikTok recently to discuss the bill and hear the company’s opinion, he said. “I’m nervous and concerned about the tension between the United States and China, and the United States and Russia. “And I think that it’s a legitimate issue,” Bowman said last week. Five of the bill’s 10 sponsors are Republicans. In light of all that action, Bowman says he saw an opportunity for an easy bipartisan win with HB 3127. President Joe Biden’s administration has now threatened an all-out ban on the plaftorm if the app isn’t divorced from its parent company, even as TikTok works to assure lawmakers it’s moving to wall off employees in China from data for U.S. The White House announced last month that employees have 30 days to delete TikTok from their government devices. Bans have cropped up most in Republican-led states, though not exclusively. More than two dozen states have already taken action to block use of TikTok, either through legislation or executive orders from the governor.

Ben Bowman, D-Tigard, who concedes he is not inventing the wheel with the proposal.

The law would include exceptions for agencies using prohibited apps for law enforcement investigations or regulatory purposes. Those include China-based companies Alipay, ZTE, Huawei and Tencent Holdings, along with Russia-based cybersecurity company Kaspersky Labs. Under the bill, state agencies would be banned from downloading or accessing products from ByteDance and a number of other companies that have been linked to governments hostile to the U.S.

The social media move comes amid growing concerns that TikTok’s parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, has spied on journalists and could share data with the Chinese government. House Bill 3127, set to receive a committee vote Tuesday, would make Oregon the latest state to ban use of the popular video-sharing app on government-owned devices. State employees will need to limit TikTok binges to their personal phones if a bipartisan bill before the Oregon Legislature moves forward as expected.

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