Congressman: TikTok should still be banned from government devices if Microsoft buys

Rep. Ken Buck told Just the News that he wants to see the TikTok app banned on government phones, even if Microsoft purchases the company's U.S. operations.

The legislative language of Buck's bill, the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, was added to the defense appropriations bill that passed in the House and awaits a vote in the Senate. Rep. Lou Correa, a California Democrat, co-sponsored the bill.

"We'll see what happens in the Senate, and now the discussion is do we ban TikTok in the country?" Buck said during an exclusive interview. 

Buck, author of the new book, “Capitol of Freedom: Restoring American Greatness," explained that he proposed his TikTok bill "based on the fact that the Chinese Communist Party is using TikTok for purposes of espionage."

President Trump has threatened to ban the app in the U.S. over its owner ByteDance allegedly sharing personal information of TikTok users with the Chinese Communist Party. Microsoft is currently involved in negotiations to purchase TikTok's U.S. operations.

Buck, a member of the House Foreign Relations Committee, said there are still "a lot of unknowns at this point" around the potential buyout of TikTok's U.S. operations.

"If there is no relationship between TikTok and the Chinese Communist Party, there wouldn't be a necessity to ban it in the United States," he said.

However, Buck told Just the News that the government-wide ban of TikTok on government devices should stay in effect regardless of who owns TikTok.

"I don't see any reason to have TikTok on a government phone, honestly, but you know, that's something that should be used purely for business and I can't see a TikTok app as a business application, especially a government business application," he said. "So I really think it calls into question what apps should be allowed on government devices. I think they should be minimal and only strictly related to government business."