White House Approves Senate Bill to Block Tik Tok
2023.03.08 04:10
White House Approves Senate Bill to Block Tik Tok
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – A dozen senators on Tuesday introduced legislation that would grant the administration new authority to prohibit foreign-based technologies and Chinese-owned video app TikTok if they pose a threat to national security. The White House supported the legislation.
ByteDance, a Chinese company, owns and operates the popular app, which is used by more than 100 million Americans. Legislative efforts to ban it have been bolstered by the endorsement.
According to Democratic Senator Mark Warner, who is in charge of the Intelligence Committee, the bill would give the Commerce Department the authority to impose restrictions that could include banning TikTok and other technologies that could be harmful to national security. He added that China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba’s technologies would also be included.
“Any U.S. ban on TikTok is a ban on the export of American culture and values to the billion-plus people who use our service worldwide,” TikTok stated in a statement in response to the legislation.
The bill would mandate that Gina Raimondo, the secretary of commerce, identify and respond to foreign threats to IT products and services. The office of Raimondo declined to comment.
TikTok has gone under expanding fire over fears that client information could wind up in the possession of the Chinese government, subverting Western security interests.
In addition to Democrats Tammy Baldwin, Joe Manchin, Michael Bennet, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Martin Heinrich, as well as Republicans Deb Fischer, Jerry Moran, Dan Sullivan, Susan Collins, and Mitt Romney, Warner and Republican John Thune are the senators who are introducing the legislation.
Warner said that the government needed to do more to make it clear what it thinks TikTok’s risks to national security are. Warner stated, “It will be incumbent upon the government to show its cards in terms of how this constitutes a threat.”
“Would strengthen our ability to address discrete risks posed by individual transactions, and systemic risks posed by certain classes of transactions involving countries of concern in sensitive technology sectors,” stated White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan of the bipartisan bill.
In a statement, he said, “We look forward to continuing to work on this bill with both Democrats and Republicans, and urge Congress to act quickly to send it to the President’s desk.”
In a separate statement, Raimondo pledged to collaborate with senators “to advance this legislation through Congress” and said she “welcomes this legislative framework for addressing these threats and protecting Americans’ safety and national security.”
On March 23, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to appear before Congress.
On Tuesday, Senator Marco Rubio stated to Fox News that Warner’s bill “takes steps” toward preventing TikTok from operating in the United States, but that it does not go far enough.
Rubio stated, “We should pass a bill that bans TikTok.” The only bipartisan, bicameral bill that does that is mine.
Last week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted on a bill sponsored by Republican Representative Michael McCaul that gave Biden the authority to ban TikTok in the event that President Donald Trump’s efforts to ban Chinese messaging app WeChat and TikTok were blocked by courts in 2020.
Democrats said that McCaul’s bill was rushed and needed debate and expert input before it could be implemented. It took 18 months to get approval for some major China-focused bills, like the chips funding bill. McCaul stated that he believes his bill could be approved by the whole House this month.
ByteDance was unanimously urged in 2020 to divest from TikTok by the powerful Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) due to concerns that user data could be given to the Chinese government.
For more than two years, TikTok and CFIUS have been negotiating data security requirements. TikTok denies allegations of spying and stated that it has invested more than $1.5 billion in stringent data security measures.
Tuesday, TikTok stated, “The fastest and most comprehensive way to address any national security concerns about TikTok is for CFIUS to adopt the proposed agreement that we worked on with them for nearly two years.”
