Senators Go After TikTok (Again) With Broader Bill That Targets 'Foreign Threats'
TikTok is again under fire on Capitol Hill, though a group of bipartisan senators is going after the popular app more broadly with a bill that targets tech from "foreign threats."
You won't find a direct mention of TikTok in the bill text (PDF(Opens in a new window)) of the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology (RESTRICT) Act. A bill summary(Opens in a new window) calls it out, however, alongside Kaspersky antivirus software, telecom equipment supplied by Huawei, Tencent’s WeChat, and Alibaba’s Alipay.
These services have "raised serious concerns about a lack of consistent policies to identify threats posed by foreign [information communications and technology] products and insufficient authorities to act decisively and comprehensively to address them," the summary says.
As such, the RESTRICT Act authorizes US government agencies to block technology deemed an "undue or unacceptable risk" to national security.
That technology includes "apps already on our phones, important parts of internet infrastructure, and software that underpins critical infrastructure." If they have access to "sensitive personal data" of more than 1 million people in the US, they're covered by this bill.
"[This] is a bipartisan solution that will allow us to address threats in a proactive, risk-based manner," says bill sponsor Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat. "It'll empower the Department of Commerce to identify and mitigate foreign threats to a range of crucial communication tech."
Those threats include China (home of TikTok parent company ByteDance), Cuba, Iran, Korea, Russia, and Venezuela, all of which have "engaged in a long-term pattern or serious instances of conduct
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