US Congressman Himes Says 'Not Quite Ready' to Support Complete Ban of TikTok

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US Congressman Jim Himes, who is a member of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, said on Tuesday that he is not yet ready to support telling Americans to stop using TikTok amid allegations that the Chinese application is used for spying.

"I'm not quite ready to say that I'm supportive of telling every American that they can't use TikTok, but I do think that it's a no-brainer that anybody in a sensitive position should not have it [TikTok] anywhere near their devices," Himes said.

Banning TikTok for more than 300 million US citizens could set a precedent, Himes said without specifying whether the US federal government may seek to ban other media platforms under the pretext of defending democracy.

On Monday, US media reported that Democrats would table in the US Senate a bipartisan bill to give President Joe Biden the authority to act against TikTok.

The bill, which is expected to be unveiled on Tuesday afternoon by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, will allow Biden to respond to alleged threats posed by TikTok and companies like it, the report said.

The latest action comes nearly two years after Biden canceled in June 2021 former President Donald Trump’s ban of TikTok and another Chinese platform WeChat and signed his own executive order to protect US information technology and communications supply chains from alleged threats that include those from China. TikTok has strongly rejected the spying accusations.

The ban on TikTok and WeChat was part of a long-running diplomatic and trade war waged by the Trump administration against China prior to Biden’s term, which began in January 2021.