[Senate Report 117-256]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                      Calendar No. 642
117th Congress    }                                     {       Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session       }                                     {      117-256 
_______________________________________________________________________

                                     


                  NO TIKTOK ON GOVERNMENT DEVICES ACT

                               __________

                              R E P O R T

                                 of the

                   COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND

                          GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                              to accompany

                                S. 1143

                  TO PROHIBIT CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS FROM
               DOWNLOADING OR USING TIKTOK ON ANY DEVICE
        ISSUED BY THE UNITED STATES OR A GOVERNMENT CORPORATION











[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]







               December 14, 2022.--Ordered to be printed 
               
                             _________
                              
                 U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
                 
39-010                   WASHINGTON : 2023
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
        COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                   GARY C. PETERS, Michigan, Chairman
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware           ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire         RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona              RAND PAUL, Kentucky
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada                  JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
ALEX PADILLA, California             MITT ROMNEY, Utah
JON OSSOFF, Georgia                  RICK SCOTT, Florida
                                     JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri

                   David M. Weinberg, Staff Director
                    Zachary I. Schram, Chief Counsel
         Christopher J. Mulkins, Director of Homeland Security
         Jeffrey D. Rothblum, Senior Professional Staff Member
                Pamela Thiessen, Minority Staff Director
            Sam J. Mulopulos, Minority Deputy Staff Director
              William H.W. McKenna, Minority Chief Counsel
                     Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk





























                                                      Calendar No. 642
117th Congress    }                                     {       Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session       }                                     {      117-256

======================================================================



 
                  NO TIKTOK ON GOVERNMENT DEVICES ACT

                                _______
                                

               December 14, 2022.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

 Mr. Peters, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
                    Affairs, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 1143]

    The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 1143) to prohibit 
certain individuals from downloading or using TikTok on any 
device issued by the United States or a government corporation, 
having considered the same, reports favorably thereon without 
amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                     Page
  I. Purpose and Summary..............................................  1
 II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................  2
III. Legislative History..............................................  3
 IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported.............  3
  V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................  3
 VI. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............  4

                         I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

    S. 1143, the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, requires 
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to 
develop standards and guidelines, consistent with the Federal 
Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) of 2014, to 
remove the TikTok application from Federal information 
technology devices and platforms. The OMB standards and 
guidelines must be developed in consultation with the General 
Services Administration (GSA), the Cybersecurity and 
Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Office of the 
Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), and the Department of 
Defense (DoD). The bill includes an exemption for law 
enforcement activities, national security interests and 
activities, and security researchers.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\On July 22, 2020, the Committee approved S. 3455, the No TikTok 
on Government Devices Act, which is substantially similar to S. 1143. 
Accordingly, this committee report is in many respects similar to the 
committee report for S. 3455, S. Rept. No. 116-250.
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              II. BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR THE LEGISLATION

    Beijing-based media and technology company, ByteDance 
Limited (ByteDance) owns the social media short-form video app, 
TikTok, managed by its subsidiary TikTok, Inc.\2\ While TikTok 
has grown in its global popularity, China's national 
intelligence and security laws raise serious concerns over the 
obligations of Chinese-owned technology companies to 
participate in intelligence gathering operations and share data 
with government officials.\3\ The requirements mandated by 
China's National Intelligence Law allow for the potential that 
Chinese government officials could use TikTok to violate the 
civil rights and privacy of users in the United States, or 
otherwise gather data that may have national security 
implications.\4\ On this basis, in November 2019, the Committee 
on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) began a 
review of ByteDance's acquisition of the social media service 
TikTok.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\Social-Media App Musical.ly Is Acquired for as Much as $1 
Billion, Wall Street Journal (Nov. 9, 2017) (https://www.wsj.com/
articles/lip-syncing-app-musical-ly-is-acquired-for-as-much-as-1-
billion-1510278123) and Inside the Rise of TikTok, the Viral Video-
Sharing App that Trump is Trying to Order its Chinese Parent to Sell, 
Business Insider (Aug. 7, 2020) (https://www.businessinsider.com/
tiktok-app-online-website-video-sharing-2019-7).
    \3\TikTok Said to Be Under National Security Review, New York Times 
(Nov. 1, 2019) (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/01/technology/tiktok-
national-security-review.html).
    \4\See, e.g. Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, Testimony 
Submitted for the Record of Samm Sacks, Senior Fellow, Yale Law School 
Paul Tsai China Center, Dangerous Partners: Big Tech and Beijing, 116th 
Cong., at (Mar. 3, 2020) (https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/
dangerous-partners-big-tech-and-beijing).
    \5\U.S. Government Investigating TikTok Over National Security 
Concerns, Washington Post (Nov. 1, 2019) (https://
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/11/01/us-government-
investigating-tiktok-over-national-security-concerns/).
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    In order to address the national security concerns raised 
by TikTok, both the Trump and Biden administrations have taken 
actions to examine any potential threats posed by the 
application's presence on mobile devices operating in the 
United States. On August 6, 2020, President Trump signed an 
executive order that would have banned TikTok transactions in 
45 days if ByteDance did not sell the company.\6\ President 
Trump also issued an order on August 14, 2020, which gave 
ByteDance 90 days to sell or spin off its U.S. TikTok 
business.\7\ TikTok filed a lawsuit on September 18, 2020, and 
a U.S. District Court Judge temporarily blocked the order that 
would have prevented the application from being downloaded on 
U.S. app stores.\8\ Three TikTok users also filed a lawsuit 
that prevented the Department of Commerce's (DoC) initial ban 
on downloading or updating the TikTok app.\9\ In June 9, 2021, 
President Biden signed an executive order that revoked the 
Trump Administration's ban on TikTok, and instead asked the 
Secretary of Commerce to investigate the app to determine if it 
poses a threat to national security.\10\ CFIUS continues to 
have concerns and the DoC is actively considering new rules to 
address potential data security risks at TikTok.\11\
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    \6\Exec. Order No. 13942, 85 Fed. Reg. 51297 (Aug. 14, 2020).
    \7\Presidential Proclamation No. 10061, 85 Fed. Reg. 51297 (Aug. 
14, 2020).
    \8\U.S. Judge Halts Trump's TikTok Ban, Hours Before It Was Set To 
Start, NPR (Sept. 27, 2020) (https://www.npr.org/2020/09/27/917452668/
u-s-judge-halts-trumps-tiktok-ban-hours-before-it-was-set-to-start).
    \9\TikTok Stars Proved Key in Strategy to Fight U.S. Ban, Wall 
Street Journal (Nov. 26, 2020) (https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-three-
tiktok-stars-beat-back-u-s-plans-to-ban-the-app-11606418513).
    \10\Exec. Order No. 14034, 86 Fed. Reg. 31423 (June 9, 2020).
    \11\Exclusive TikTok nears Oracle deal in bid to allay U.S. data 
concerns--sources, Reuters (March 10, 2022) (https://www.reuters.com/
technology/exclusive-tiktok-nears-deal-with-oracle-store-its-data-
sources-2022-03-10/).
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    Several Federal agencies, including DoD, the State 
Department, and the Department of Homeland Security, have 
banned TikTok on devices those agencies are responsible for, 
but these decisions have been made by individual agencies and 
do not apply to the Federal Government as a whole.\12\ Under 
FISMA, OMB is responsible for developing and overseeing Federal 
cybersecurity policies, and as such, it has the power to 
produce standards and guidance for the removal of TikTok across 
the Federal enterprise.\13\ This bill requires the Director of 
OMB, in consultation with key agency stakeholders, to develop 
standards and guidelines requiring the removal of TikTok and 
any successor applications developed or provided by ByteDance 
or any ByteDance subsidiary.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \12\TSA Bans Employee Use of TikTok for the Agency's Outreach Amid 
National Security Concerns, CNN.com (Feb. 25, 2020) (https://
www.cnn.com/2020/02/25/politics/tsa-tiktok-national-security/
index.html).
    \13\44 U.S.C. Sec. 3553.
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                        III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    Senator Hawley (R-MO) introduced S. 1143, the No TikTok on 
Government Devices Act, on April 15, 2021, with Senators Cotton 
(R-AK), Scott (R-FL), and Rubio (R-FL). The bill was referred 
to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs. The Committee considered S. 1143 at a business meeting 
on May 12, 2021. The Committee ordered the bill reported 
favorably en bloc by voice vote. Senators present for the vote 
on the bill were: Peters, Carper, Hassan, Sinema, Rosen, 
Padilla, Ossoff, Portman, Johnson, Paul, Lankford, Romney, 
Scott, and Hawley.

        IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE BILL, AS REPORTED

Section 1. Short title

    This section establishes that the bill may be referred to 
as the ``No TikTok on Government Devices Act''.

Section 2. Prohibition of the use of TikTok

    Subsection (a) defines the terms ``covered application'', 
``executive agency'', and ``information technology.''
    Subsection (b) requires the Director of OMB, in 
consultation with the Administrator of GSA, the Director of 
CISA, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Secretary 
of Defense, and consistent with the information security 
requirements of FISMA, to develop standards and guidelines for 
the removal of covered applications from information 
technology.
    This subsection also directs OMB to include in its 
standards and guidelines exemptions for law enforcement 
activities, national security interests, and security 
researchers.

                   V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT

    Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule 
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has 
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined 
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning 
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional 
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no 
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the 
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs 
on state, local, or tribal governments.

       VI. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED

    This legislation would make no change in existing law, 
within the meaning of clauses (a) and (b) of subparagraph 12 of 
rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, because this 
legislation would not repeal or amend any provision of current 
law.

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