Proposed: no TikTok at city hall

TikTok, the social media app that’s garnered both millions of users and much concern about security issues, is on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting of the Westminster City Council.

What will be considered is a request to “ban the downloading or use of TikTok or accessing any website developed by Bytedance Ltd.” on city-owned devices.

The staff report claims that Bytedance has a “known affiliation to the government of the People’s Republic of China” and that “China has a history of amassing large amounts of data on their own citizens  and those around the world including individuals in the United States.”

The report cites comments from FBI Director Christopher Wray in December 2022  saying that not only could the app collect data on its users, but also steer to those users “biased videos that could be geopolitically more favorable to China.” 

Federal employees are banned from using TikTok on government owned devices.

Also on the agenda for Wednesday night’s meeting is a request to rescind a certificate of recognition to the Vietnamese American Business Association on the grounds that “assertions that the issuance of a certificate to this organization is not appropriate  within the guidelines of the city’s recognition policy.”

The council will meet in its chambers at 8200 Westminster Blvd. at 6 p.m.

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