Senator Chuck Schumer, America’s dean who swears to god this is the last warning about the phones, has asked the TSA to get off TikTok. In a missive addressed to TSA Administrator David Pekoske on Saturday, Schumer noted that a previous string of warnings resulted in TikTok bans for the Department of Defense, the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security on government-related devices. “Has the TSA been given an exemption from the Department of Homeland Security’s own ban of TikTok?” he scolded, presumably peering down through spectacles on the tip of his nose. Ooo0OoO0ooo busted.
As of this writing, the TSA does not have an active TikTok presence, but the culprit is a media liaison who has been posting “nopes” and “yeps” of carry-on food and Valentine’s gifts. (LisaF, I stan you.) While Schumer concedes that his heart is not made of stone (“these videos sure do make you chuckle”), he adds that “China might be laughing at these TSA postings for very different reasons”: namely, hoovering up user data without any real assurance that it doesn’t end up in the hands of the Communist Party of China. In a press conference on Sunday, Schumer reportedly accused the TSA of “placing its own agency and the public in danger.”
He notes that the TSA has retweeted Lisa:
In a statement shared with Gizmodo, TSA stated that employees no longer make TikTok videos promoting TSA safety tips. So long as the senator’s inspecting, he might also peruse some high-quality content:
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has an active and award-winning presence on several social media platforms. However, TSA has never published any content to TikTok nor has it ever directed viewers to TikTok. A small number of TSA employees have previously used TikTok on their personal devices to create videos for use in TSA’s social media outreach, but that practice has since been discontinued.
The practice had been halted approximately two weeks ago. Bafflingly, the TSA was also pleased to add that Chuck Schumer follows them on their award-winning Instagram. A cursory scroll through @chuckschumer’s follows suggests that he does not, and he’s missing out. In 2018, the TSA was awarded three Webbys, two of which fell under the “weird” category.
The agency declined to confirm whether it will revoke privileges for TSA security officers’ personal accounts, which might make America safer, but also deprive the world of a cache of relatable content that briefly allays our anxieties over biometric surveillance with the faces of people, hot people, who suffer the same daily monotony and torment of adulting, yet the occasional thrills of finding a bald eagle.
As of this writing, the contraband tweets we all love remain government-approved.