Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida announced on Tuesday that he had introduced a bill to ban TikTok from operating in the United States.
He said the bill was designed to protect the information of U.S. users amid concerns over TikTok parent ByteDance's request to share data with the Chinese government. "This isn't about creative videos — this is about an app that collects data on tens of millions of American children and adults every day," Rubio said in a release.
Rep. Mike Gallager (R-Wisconsin) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois) have introduced bipartisan matching legislation in the House of Representatives, the release noted.
TikTok's popularity in the United States has skyrocketed, though the app's rise has been the subject of political debate.
Former President Trump tried to get TikTok to sell its U.S. business, but the deal did not happen. President Biden is said to intend to issue an executive order to limit TikTok's ability to collect data.
