The US House Foreign Affairs Committee voted along party lines on Wednesday to give President Joe Biden the authority to ban Chinese-owned TikTok, the most far-reaching US restriction on any social media app.
The measure to give the administration new powers to ban the ByteDance-owned app, which is used by over 100 million Americans, as well as other apps deemed security risks, was approved by lawmakers by a vote of 24 to 16.
“TikTok poses a national security risk… It is time to take action, “Representative Michael McCaul, the Republican chair of the committee that sponsored the bill, stated as much.
“Anyone who has TikTok installed on their device has granted the CCP (Communist Party of China) access to all of their personal information. It’s a spy balloon embedded in their phone.”
Democrats opposed the bill, claiming that it was rushed and required due diligence through debate and expert consultation. The bill does not specify how the ban would work, but it gives Biden the authority to prohibit any TikTok transactions, which could prevent anyone in the United States from accessing or downloading the app on their phones.
The bill also requires Biden to impose a ban on any entity that “may” transfer sensitive personal data to a Chinese-influenced entity.
TikTok has come under fire in recent weeks amid concerns that user data could end up in the hands of the Chinese government, jeopardizing Western security interests.
The White House gave government agencies 30 days this week to ensure that TikTok is not present on any federal devices or systems. More than 30 states in the United States, Canada, and the European Union have also prohibited TikTok from being loaded onto state-owned devices.
The fate of the latest measure is still unknown, and it faces significant obstacles before becoming law. Before it can be sent to Biden, the bill must be approved by the full House and the Democratic-controlled Senate.
“A ban on TikTok in the United States is a ban on the export of American culture and values to the billion people who use our service around the world,” a TikTok spokeswoman said after the vote.
The Biden administration did not say whether it supported moving forward with the bill or whether it believed Biden now has the legal authority to ban TikTok.
“TikTok poses a problem and an issue – and so we have concerns about that as it relates to Americans’ data,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said.
‘INSTINCT TO BAN’
Representative Gregory Meeks, the committee’s top Democrat, said he strongly opposed the legislation but understands the public’s concerns about TikTok.
“The Republican instinct to ban what it fears, from books to speech,” Meeks said, adding that the bill would require the administration to sanction TikTok and other subsidiaries of TikTok’s parent company.
Because of concerns that user data could be passed on to China’s government, the US government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a powerful national security body, unanimously recommended that ByteDance divest TikTok in 2020.
TikTok and CFIUS have been negotiating data security requirements for more than two years. TikTok claims to have spent more than $1.5 billion on rigorous data security efforts and denies any allegations of spying. Meeks wants the discussions to continue.
Because of the bill’s broad restrictions on data transfers to China, Meeks believes it is “dangerously” broad and would necessitate US sanctions against Korean and Taiwanese companies that supply Chinese companies with semiconductor chips and other equipment.
The American Civil Liberties Union urged lawmakers to vote against the bill, describing it as a “serious violation of our First Amendment rights.”
After the vote, McCaul told Reuters that he expects the House to vote on the bill this month.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to testify before the US Energy and Commerce Committee on March 23 after meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill last month.
