Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
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State of Arkansas 1
94th General Assembly A Bill 2
Regular Session, 2023 SENATE BILL 4 3
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By: Senator G. Stubblefield 5
By: Representative M. Berry 6
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For An Act To Be Entitled 8
AN ACT TO PROHIBIT A PUBLIC ENTITY FROM U SING THE 9
TIKTOK APPLICATION O R VISITING THE TIKTO K WEBSITE ON 10
A STATE-OWNED DEVICE OR STAT E-LEASED EQUIPMENT; AN D 11
FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 12
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Subtitle 15
TO PROHIBIT A PUBLIC ENTITY FROM USING 16
THE TIKTOK APPLICATION OR VISITING THE 17
TIKTOK WEBSITE ON A STATE -OWNED DEVICE OR 18
STATE-LEASED EQUIPMENT. 19
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 22
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SECTION 1. Arkansas Code Title 21, Chapter 1, Subchapter 1, is amended 24
to add an additional section to read as follows: 25
21-1-107. State-owned device or state -leased equipment — Definitions — 26
Legislative findings — Prohibition. 27
(a) As used in this section: 28
(1) "State employee" means an individual employed by a state 29
entity; 30
(2) "State entity" means an instrumentality of state government, 31
including without limitation a board, commission, committee, advisory board, 32
office, department, institution, bureau, council, administrative program, 33
agency, or division; 34
(3) "State-owned device or state-leased equipment" means a 35
device that has been issued or leased by a state entity to a state employee 36 SB4
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or contractor of the state, including without limitation a mobile device, 1
cellphone, laptop, or any other device capable of internet connec tivity; and 2
(4) "TikTok" means a social media platform owned by the Chinese 3
company ByteDance that has the ability to use data collection methods to 4
gather user information, including without limitation internet browsing data, 5
keystrokes, and location i nformation. 6
(b) The General Assembly finds that: 7
(1) The maintenance of cybersecurity in state government is 8
necessary to continue to serve Arkansas citizens; 9
(2) TikTok has more than one billion (1,000,000,000) global 10
users, with over one hundred thirty-five million (135,000,000) of those users 11
located in the United States; 12
(3) Christopher Wray, Director of the Federal Bureau of 13
Investigation, has warned that the data collection practices of ByteDance may 14
be used to influence Americans or contro l or compromise software on millions 15
of devices; 16
(4) The Communist Party of China may obtain access to this 17
personal information obtained through the data collection policies of 18
ByteDance because ByteDance is headquartered in China and Chinese national 19
security laws compel companies operating in China to share their user 20
information data with the Communist Party of China upon request; 21
(5) Previously, ByteDance refused to stop the flow of user 22
information data to the Communist Party of China despite a request to do so 23
from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States; 24
(6) The Communist Party of China may use United States user 25
information data for sensitive intelligence gathering, intellectual property 26
theft, and other illicit purposes; 27
(7) Several government entities, including the United States 28
Armed Forces, the Transportation Security Administration, and the State of 29
South Dakota, have banned downloading or using the TikTok application or 30
visiting the TikTok website on government -issued devices; 31
(8) Officials of the Federal Communications Commission and a 32
bipartisan coalition of United States Senators support a complete ban on 33
TikTok usage due to TikTok's unique national security risks; and 34
(9) Permitting the downloading or usag e of the TikTok 35
application or visiting the TikTok website on government -issued cellphones, 36 SB4
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laptops, or any other device capable of internet connectivity is contrary to 1
the interest of this state. 2
(c) A state entity or state employee shall not download o r use the 3
TikTok application or visit the TikTok website on a state -owned device or 4
state-leased equipment. 5
(d) A person or entity that contracts with the state shall not 6
download or use the TikTok application or visit the TikTok website on a 7
state-owned device or state-leased equipment. 8
(e) Upon conviction, a person that downloads or uses the TikTok 9
application or visits the TikTok website is guilty of a violation. 10
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