White House Backs Bill To Impose Ban On Chinese-Owned TikTok & Other Foreign-Based Technologies

The White House said it backed legislation introduced on Tuesday by a dozen Senators to give the administration new powers to ban Chinese-owned video app TikTok and other foreign-based technologies if they pose national security threats.

The endorsement boosts efforts by a number of lawmakers to ban the popular ByteDance-owned app, which is used by more than 100 million Americans.

The bill gives the Commerce Department the ability to impose restrictions up to and including banning TikTok and other technologies that pose national security risks said Democratic Senator Mark Warner, who chairs the Intelligence Committee.

He said it would also apply to foreign technologies from China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba.

TikTok said in a statement that 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.”

The bill would require Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to identify and address foreign threats to information and communications technology products and services. Raimondo’s office declined to comment.

The group, led by Warner and Republican Senator John Thune, includes Democrats Tammy Baldwin, Joe Manchin, Michael Bennett, Kirsten Gillibrand and Martin Heinrich along with Republicans Deb Fischer, Jerry Moran, Dan Sullivan, Susan Collins and Mitt Romney, Warner’s office said.

Warner said it was important for the government to do more to make clear what it believes are the national security risks to the U.S. from the use of TikTok.

“Today, the threat that everyone is talking about is TikTok, and how it could enable surveillance by the Chinese Communist Party, or facilitate the spread of malign influence campaigns in the US,” Warner said in a statement.

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan praised the bipartisan bill saying it “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.”

“We look forward to continuing working with both Democrats and Republicans on this bill, and urge Congress to act quickly to send it to the President’s desk,” he said in a statement.

TikTok, the ByteDance-owned app has come under increasing fire over fears user data could end up in the hands of the Chinese government, undermining Western security interests.

TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew is due to appear before Congress on March 23.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee last week voted along party lines on a bill sponsored by Representative Michael McCaul to give Biden the power to ban TikTok after then-President Donald Trump was stymied by courts in 2020 in his efforts to ban TikTok and the Chinese messaging app WeChat.

Democrats opposed McCaul’s bill, saying it was rushed and required due diligence through debate and consultation with experts. Some major bills aimed at China like a chips funding bill took 18 months to win approval. McCaul said he thinks the full U.S. House of Representatives could vote on the bill this month.

TikTok, which is used by more than 100 million Americans,  has repeatedly insisted it has not and would not share personal data with the Chinese government and has been engaged in months-long negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States on ways to address national security concerns.

Some legal experts have argued a ban would violate free speech rights guaranteed under the First Amendment of the US Constitution, with the American Civil Liberties Union last month expressing concern over any move to restrict Americans’ right to “exchange our thoughts, ideas, and opinions with people around the country and around the world”.