White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a Thursday press conference that she has to “be very careful” when discussing the Senate-passed legislation that would ban TikTok on government devices.
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday night passed a bill sponsored by Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Rick Scott, R-Fla. and Marco Rubio, R-Fla. that would ban TikTok from being on government devices, citing security concerns.
“So as I’ve as I’ve said before, you know, I want to be very careful on commenting on any specific legislation at this time. So I would refer you to Congress on the next steps, we don’t get involved in the process, as we’ve done in the past,” Jean-Pierre said.
Jean-Pierre said that TikTok isn’t allowed to be used on White House devices “for security reasons.”
SENATE PASSES BILL THAT WOULD BAN TIKTOK ON GOVERNMENT DEVICES
FBI Director Christopher Wray said during a Dec. 2 speech at the University of Michigan that Chinese officials have broad access to TikTok, allowing them “to manipulate content, and if they want to, to use it for influence operations.”
“All of these things are in the hands of a government that doesn’t share our values, and that has a mission that’s very much at odds with what’s in the best interests of the United States. That should concern us,” Wray said.
TikTok Chief Operating Officer Vanessa Pappas attempted to refute that the company shares user data during a September Senate hearing.
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“We will never share data, period,” Pappas said.
Fox News’ Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.