Following warnings from U.S. officials that TikTok — owned by Chinese tech firm ByteDance Ltd. — poses national security risks due to its potential exploitation by the Chinese government, state and federal lawmakers have taken measures to ban use of the popular social media app.
As Chinese-based social media platforms like TikTok and WeChat face scrutiny in the United States, a new Morning Consult/Politico survey finds that a slim majority of registered voters support a ban on Chinese-based social media platforms in the United States, but younger voters are more divided on the proposal.
TikTok bans going viral
In late November, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) issued an executive order that banned state employees and contractors from using TikTok on state-owned devices. Since then, nearly 20 states have followed suit in restricting government employees from using TikTok and other apps with potential ties to adversarial foreign governments.
Congress is also getting involved, with one bill that would ban the use of TikTok on phones and devices issued by the federal government or a government corporation, and another piece of legislation that would ban the use of TikTok in the United States and also prohibit all transactions related to Russian- or Chinese-based social media companies. The first bill unanimously passed in the Senate and was added to a government spending package set for a vote this week.
It is unclear whether President Joe Biden would sign the bills into law, as his administration reportedly continues to carve out a national security agreement between TikTok and the United States that has been plagued by delays over several sticking points.
The latest Morning Consult/Politico survey was conducted Dec. 16-19, 2022, among a representative sample of 2,001 registered voters, with an unweighted margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
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