Some lawmakers are active on TikTok even after concerns about the social media platform\u2019s surveillance capabilities prompted Congress to ban it on some federal devices in December.
\nThe bipartisan\u00a0omnibus spending bill\u00a0passed on Dec. 23 prohibits TikTok on executive branch mobile devices, with limited carveouts for national security, law enforcement and research purposes. However, Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Jamaal Bowman of New York have posted on the app since the vote despite\u00a0supporting\u00a0the bill, and other current and former representatives still have accounts on the platform.
\nThe Senate\u00a0voted\u00a0unanimously to ban TikTok on government-issued mobile devices in December, and the House\u2019s internal cybersecurity office directed members and staffers to\u00a0delete\u00a0the app from any work phones on Dec. 27 due to a \u201chigh risk to users,\u201d NBC News\u00a0reported.\u00a0(RELATED: TikTok\u2019s Security Protocols Won\u2019t Prevent China From Spying On American Users, Analysts Warn)
\nThe bans followed mounting evidence that TikTok\u2019s Chinese parent company ByteDance has gathered unauthorized data on American users through the app. Beijing, through ByteDance, could use it as an instrument of\u00a0surveillance, covert\u00a0influence\u00a0and\u00a0espionage, the\u00a0Biden administration\u00a0and a bipartisan coalition in Congress have\u00a0warned.
\n\u201cWe do have national security concerns,\u201d FBI Director Christopher Wray\u00a0said, according to NBC News. \u201cThey include the possibility that the Chinese government could use it to control data collection on millions of users.\u201d
\nYet Democratic members of Congress who took the vote, including\u00a0Omar,\u00a0Bowman, Reps.\u00a0Katie Porter\u00a0and\u00a0Tony Cardenas\u00a0of California and former Rep.\u00a0Tim Ryan\u00a0of Ohio, who used the platform to promote his Senate campaign, have verified accounts on TikTok. Democratic Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri also\u00a0appears\u00a0to operate an unverified account.
\nTikTok previously sought out popular accounts to verify, but in November 2022\u00a0introduced\u00a0a new feature allowing users to request verification by proving their identity and notability.
\nAll six supported the bill banning TikTok on some federal devices, and Omar and Bowman have posted since the vote on Dec. 23.<\/p>\n