California won’t ban TikTok on government phones this year, as lawmaker pulls bill

A bill that originally would have banned TikTok from state workers’ government-issued smartphones has been pulled from consideration in the waning days of this year’s legislative session.

Senate Bill 74, by Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, had been amended so that it called for state agencies to adopt “risk mitigation strategies” tailored to risks posed by platforms such as TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance.

Dodd spokesman Paul Payne told The Bee in an email that the bill was sidelined in order to give the lawmaker’s staff more time to evaluate proposed amendments.

“It was also a response to the governor’s executive order on AI, released this week. We hope to incorporate anything that comes out of that as we continue working on the bill in the second year of the two-year cycle,” he said.

SB 74 looked poised to easily pass through the Legislature; the bill made it through every committee, as well as a Senate floor vote, without a single “no” vote.

Now, the legislation won’t be taken up until the Legislature reconvenes in 2024.

TikTok is already banned on federal employees’ government-issued devices. It’s also set to be banned on all devices in the state of Montana next year.