US senators introduce bipartisan bill that allows Biden to ban TikTok and other services | CNN Business

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A dozen US senators introduced bipartisan legislation on Tuesday that would expand President Joe Biden’s legal authority to ban TikTok nationwide, marking the latest in a series of congressional proposals that threaten the platform’s future of social networks in the United States.

The legislation, called the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats Posing Risks in Information and Communications Technology (RESTRICT) Act, is not intended to specifically ban TikTok. But it seeks to give the US government new powers, including a ban, against foreign-linked electronics or software producers the Commerce Department deems a national security risk.

The proposed law takes a broad approach to fears that companies with ties to China could be pressured by the Chinese government to hand over personal data or sensitive communications records of Americans. In the case of TikTok, lawmakers have said China’s national security laws could force TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, to provide access to TikTok user data in the United States.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew said this week that the company has never received such a request from the Chinese government and would never comply with one. The company has taken voluntary steps to cut off US user data from the rest of its global organization, including hosting that data on servers operated by US tech giant Oracle. The company is also negotiating a possible deal with the Biden administration that would allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States under certain conditions.

In a statement, TikTok spokeswoman Brooke Oberwetter said a US government ban would stifle American speech and would be “a ban on the export of American culture and values ​​to over a thousand millions of people using our service around the world.”

But that hasn’t stopped many policymakers from seeking tougher measures against the company.

Last week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced a bill that would require the Biden administration to issue a nationwide ban on TikTok if an assessment of the platform found potential risks to users’ data. US, risks that several administration officials have already said exist.

Another bill led by Senator Marco Rubio would ban transactions by social media companies based in or under the “substantial influence” of countries considered foreign adversaries of the US.

Tuesday’s bill, introduced by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner and Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, is less prescriptive: It gives the Commerce Department broad discretion to identify and , then, mitigate the perceived risks arising from foreign-linked technology companies. This latitude would reflect an entirely new authority given to the Secretary of Commerce, not an authority derived from the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The legislation would cover a wide range of technologies in addition to social media, Warner said, including artificial intelligence, financial technology services, quantum computing and e-commerce. It would also improve an ad hoc fight focused on individual companies and provide the US government with a systematic legal framework to deal with technology-driven espionage threats, Warner said.

In recent years, US concerns about Chinese espionage have largely focused on telecommunications companies such as Huawei and ZTE, which produce wireless equipment for cellular networks. But they’ve expanded to include surveillance camera makers and, more recently, app and software makers like TikTok.

“Instead of playing Huawei one day, ZTE the next, Kasperky, TikTok, we need a more comprehensive approach to assessing and mitigating these threats posed by these foreign technologies from these adversarial nations,” Warner said, adding that the The bill was drafted in consultation with the Commerce, Defense, Justice and Treasury departments, along with US intelligence officials, the Federal Communications Commission and the White House.

In a statement, Homeland Security Adviser Jake Sullivan endorsed the bill, calling it “a systematic framework to address technology-based threats to the safety and security of Americans.”

“This will help us address the threats we face today and also prevent these risks from arising in the future,” Sullivan said.

Warner added that the legislation has “generated a lot of interest” from other senators beyond the 12 co-sponsors and some members of the House from both parties.