Josh Hawley: “last night, the Senate took the important step of unanimously, on a bipartisan basis, passing legislation to ban TikTok…”

“last night, the Senate took the important step of unanimously, on a bipartisan basis, passing legislation to ban TikTok on all Government devices. Now, this has been a longtime coming. I first introduced this piece of legislation almost 3 years ago. But last night's legislation is vitally important because never has the security threat to the American people from the Chinese Communist Party been more grave and never has the determination on the part of the Chinese Communist Party to leverage every possible asset, every possible platform to gather information--personal information--from the American people been more serious than it is now. That is why last night's action by this body is so critical. Let's talk about TikTok for a moment, the most downloaded app in the world for the last 2 and 3 years running. Back in 2020, over 100 million Americans--100 million--used TikTok, and that was over 2 years ago. Since 2022, TikTok's average monthly users--and this year, every quarter of this year--has increased by 234 percent. It is incredible growth. You can see why. It is a fun app to use. Here is what Americans don't know because TikTok doesn't want them to know. It is that the app runs continuously in the background of your phone or device. It collects your keystrokes. It has access to your email, access to your calendars, access to the notes and clipboard functions of your computer or iPhone or tablet or device. It, of course, tracks your geolocation.…”