HARRISBURG – Legislation approved by the state Senate Communications and Technology Committee would protect the information of PA state government, including citizen information, by prohibiting state-owned devices from downloading and using TikTok. Senate Bill 379, sponsored by York County Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill, would mandate that all state agencies, departments, and commissions remove TikTok from state networks and have policies in place to prevent application installation, as well as network-based restrictions to prevent its use and access. Democrats and Republicans nationwide have raised concerns that, because the parent company of TikTok is a Chinese company, the Communist Chinese government can gain access to private data. The bill now moves to the full Senate for consideration.

SEN. KRISTIN PHILLIPS-HILL