INTERVIEW | How US Government Could Ban TikTok

Chinese-owned TikTok has made headlines over the past few weeks as bipartisan support grows to ban the popular app.

A bipartisan, bicameral trio of lawmakers introduced legislation Dec. 13 aimed at banning TikTok nationwide. The next day, the Senate unanimously passed another bill that would ban the app on government devices. 

Brendan Carr, a Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, has been one of the most outspoken critics of TikTok and particularly highlights two national security concerns related to the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

"One has to do with all of this sensitive, private, nonpublic data that has been accessed from inside Beijing. So for years, TikTok officials told regulators like me and told Congress, 'Don't worry about it, none of this data is stored inside China,'" Carr says. "Well, over this past summer, there was a bombshell BuzzFeed News story that showed those representations had been nothing other than gaslighting. BuzzFeed News got a hold of internal TikTok communications that showed, in fact, quote, 'everything is seen in China.'"

"The second is, once they have that, they can use it for foreign influence, for espionage, other types of campaigns. And in fact, we're already seeing that," Carr warns.

Carr joins this episode of "The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss a potential TikTok ban in America, how the U.S. government would be able to enact and implement a ban, and how parents can protect their children. 

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