Senate passes TikTok/WeChat ban for state-issued devices

The Senate narrowly passed a bill on Tuesday that would prohibit the downloading or using of TikTok and WeChat on any state-issued device.

Senators voted 20-20 to pass SB 1459 introduced by Sen. Ryan T. McDougle, R- Hanover.  Along with state-issued devices, the bill also prohibits government employees from downloading or using the app while connected to any wired or wireless internet network owned, operated or maintained by the Virginia government.

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears broke the tie and nearly all senators voted along party lines except John J. Bell, D- Prince William, and Richard L. Saslaw, D- Fairfax, who voted for the Republican-backed bill.

“[The banning of the applications] is a concept that is supported not just by Republicans but also Democrats and everybody who is concerned about our national security,” McDougle said during the Senate session.

The passing of this bill comes close to two months after Gov. Glenn Youngkin banned TikTok and WeChat from all state-issued devices through an executive order in December.

Discussion about banning the applications gained traction around two and a half years ago when former president Donald Trump wanted to ban TikTok through an executive order because of the alleged national security threat it posed, as the application is owned by Chinese company, ByteDance Limited. The ban was blocked by two federal judges, who found that Trump had overstepped his authority with the order.

The bill not only bans Tik Tok and WeChat but also any other application owned by ByteDance Limited or WeChat’s parent company, Tencent Holdings Limited.

Sen. William M. Stanley, R- Franklin, supported the bill, and emphasized the idea that the applications posed a national security threat.

“Never have we ever had a company that has created an app or created a product that has dropped into the United States that has the capability of consuming all of your personal information,” Stanley said during the senate session. “It’s the [Chinese] government that is using this company to collect data like never before.”

Critics of the bill, including Sen. Scott A. Surovell, D-Fairfax, disliked the idea of putting the name of a specific company into the Virginia code.

“The point is you shouldn’t put the name of a company into the code of Virginia, that’s not how you write a bill, it’s not how you write a law,” Surovell said during the senate session. “Nobody here is arguing that TikTok’s dangerous or not dangerous it’s just simply a matter of process.”

Surovell, along with Sen. Jennifer L. McClellan, D- Richmond, also advocated that the prohibition of the applications should be left to the governor and the executive branch.