BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation into law to ban TikTok and other "foreign-controlled" apps on state government and higher education devices.
On Monday, DeSantis held a news conference at the American Aviation Flight Academy in Brooksville and signed three bills into law that he says will keep foreign interests such as the Communist Party of China from influencing "the Free State of Florida."
The first bill he signed, SB 264, essentially aims to prohibit countries such as China, Cuba and Russia from buying farmland or land near "critical infrastructure" in Florida. This will help preserve Florida's food supply and "economic sovereignty," DeSantis said.
The second bill, SB 846, prohibits state universities, colleges and higher education employees from "soliciting or accepting gifts" from the CCP or "foreign country of concern." It also prevents any state college or university from accepting grants from these foreign powers.
The final bill DeSantis signed, SB 258, bans the use of TikTok and other "dangerous" foreign-made apps on government and educational institution devices across the state. It codifies previous legislation and makes it applicable to all stages of local and state government, DeSantis said.
"So if you're trying to get on the WiFi or something with one of these CCP-backed apps, it's not going to let you go and do that," DeSantis said. "We think that's appropriate because we think whatever utility these applications have is clearly outweighed by the benefit that the CCP gets from data mining and being able to collect information."
All three bills signed into law will take effect on July 1.
On Friday, the Florida Legislature ended its annual session by unanimously passing a $117 billion state budget.
Most years, the last day of the session drags on well past sunset as the final trading on important legislation goes back and forth. This year, DeSantis told lawmakers not to save the biggest items for the last week.
Other than the budget, which was passed before noon Friday, that was largely accomplished. Seamless, of course, is in the eye of the winner. A Republican supermajority in both chambers left Democrats powerless to stop many of the issues on DeSantis’ agenda.
And DeSantis, who has controlled the Legislature like no other governor in recent history, made it clear from the start that he didn't want the session to become a “train wreck” in the final week.
With the session over, the big question facing DeSantis is what's next in his future. He's widely expected to jump into the presidential race soon.
“What’s next for me is to go through this budget they passed,” DeSantis said. “What happens in the future, we’ll get to that relatively soon. You have to put up or shut up.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.