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By Anna Commander
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Congressman Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican, said that TikTok is "digital fentanyl" and praised his colleagues in the Senate for passing the ban of the Chinese social media platform on government devices.
Gallagher spoke with NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday and said, "I think the comparison is apt for at least two reasons. One, it's highly addictive and destructive, and we're seeing troubling data about the corrosive impact of constant social media use particularly on young men and women here in America."
"It's also digital fentanyl in the sense that as you allude to, it ultimately goes back to the Chinese Communist Party. TikTok is owned by ByteDance. ByteDance is effectively controlled by the CCP. So, we have to ask whether we want the CCP to control what is on the cusp of becoming the most powerful media company in America," the congressman said.
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TikTok has been top of mind for both Democrats and Republicans recently, with lawmakers banning the social media app from government devices. President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law a ban on using the app on federal government devices, which was passed by Congress as part of the omnibus spending bill.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott of Texas and Louisiana's Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin both announced they are banning TikTok from government devices in late December.
"As Secretary of State, I have the serious responsibility of protecting voters' personally identifiable information, which is why I have taken the step of banning the use of TikTok on all devices owned or leased by my agency," Ardoin said in a letter to Louisiana's Democratic governor.
"I wholeheartedly believe that doing so on a statewide level would protect our data and reaffirm our commitment to privacy protections for our constituents," Ardoin continued.
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Kansas Democratic Governor Laura Kelly also made the announcement to remove TikTok from government devices saying, "to protect Kansans' privacy and security, I just issued an Executive Order to ban TikTok on state devices under my jurisdiction."
"TikTok mines users' data and potentially gives it to the Chinese Communist Party—a threat recognized by a growing group of bipartisan leaders," she concluded.
Gallagher concluded in his interview on Sunday that he wants to see the TikTok ban expand nationally.
Meanwhile, Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois has co-sponsored a bill to prohibit TikTok from operating in the U.S. Krishnamoorthi tweeted, "this bill would protect American users from malign foreign influence from adversaries such as the CCP, who have access to the data owned by ByteDance, TikTok's parent company."
"We can't turn a blind eye to this threat that apps like TikTok could present," he concluded.
Tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy told Newsweek on Sunday, "I think that banning it on government devices is a small first step, but I think there's a good argument to ban it for all kids under age 16 - and possibly a nationwide ban, full stop."
Ramaswamy added: "There's a reason why the Chinese company that owns TikTok doesn't offer that same product in China: it's just another Trojan horse for advancing the CCP's agenda at the expense of the next generation of Americans."
Update 1/1/2023, 1:47 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include comment from Ramaswamy.
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