Kentucky Senate passes bill that would ban TikTok on state devices

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WKYT) - A bill to ban the popular social media app TikTok from state-owned and used devices has cleared another hurdle in the Kentucky General Assembly.

This comes a week after a Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the South Carolina coast. The Kentucky Senate voted to keep the Chinese-owned app from state-owned communication devices.

The Senate voted Friday morning 31-0 to advance the issue over to the House.

“TikTok is a social media service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance,” said Senator Robbie Mills, R-Henderson.

Senator Mills says most tech companies are owned at least partially by the Chinese government and that it’s been widely reported that TikTok is able to access a lot of private data.

There is concern the Chinese government would have a lot of access to that. Senator Mills says the FBI has said TikTok does carry a national security concern.

“The FBI has warned that the Chinese could use this app to influence users or control their devices,” said Sen. Mills.

While there has been a lot said about the spy balloon in recent days, Senate President Robert Stivers says he doesn’t think that influenced Friday’s unanimous vote. He says discussions about this have been ongoing because of data mining.

The bill now goes to the full House.

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