WASHINGTON, D.C.– Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) today released the following statement after Governor Tony Evers announced he would ban the use of TikTok on state government devices.

“TikTok is a CCP trojan horse that can track someone’s location, monitor their keystrokes, and collect other pieces of sensitive information about them. This app belongs nowhere near any part of our government and I’m glad Governor Evers finally made the decision to ban TikTok on state devices. Now that Governor Evers has recognized the threat posed by the app, I hope he will also delete his campaign’s TikTok account.”

Last month, Rep. Gallagher led Republicans in Wisconsin’s Congressional Delegation in calling on Governor Evers to ban the app on state-government devices and delete his campaign’s TikTok account. Rep. Gallagher has also led the charge to ban TikTok nationally and introduced a bipartisan bill that would accomplish that.

As FBI and cybersecurity officials have long made clear, TikTok can collect an individual’s sensitive data and censor the news they see. It poses a significant security threat, and just in the past month, we’ve seen:

  • Reports confirm that TikTok spied on journalists who wrote negative stories about TikTok, 
  • TikTok’s top lobbyist refuse to acknowledge the ongoing genocide in China, calling into question their company’s past attempts to censor any news surrounding the atrocities being committed against Uyghur Muslims, 
  • The federal government ban on all federal devices with overwhelming bipartisan support, 
  • The U.S. House of Representatives implement a ban on all House-issued devices, and
  • The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty highlight the very real risks posed by the app.
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