The White House endorsed Senate legislation Tuesday that would give the federal government power to regulate or ban social media platforms tied to foreign adversaries.
Although not explicitly targeting TikTok, the bipartisan RESTRICT Act led by Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and John Thune, R-S.D., would have substantial ramifications for the platform's owner ByteDance, which is based in Beijing.
The bill permits the Department of Commerce to identify and mitigate risks posed by technology companies associated with enemies of the United States — notably China, North Korea, Iran, Russia, Cuba, and Venezuela.
In addition, it urges the DOC to prioritize evaluating foreign technology that affects critical infrastructure. New coordination between the DOC and the Director of National Intelligence to "educate the public" is also laid out.
"This legislation would empower the United States government to prevent certain foreign governments from exploiting technology services operating in the United States in a way that poses risks to Americans' sensitive data and our national security," said Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden's national security adviser.
"Critically, 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," he added.
According to The Hill, the measure has a better chance of getting enacted than previous Republican proposals specifically focused on ByteDance's alleged Chinese Communist Party connections.
TikTok spokeswoman Brooke Oberwetter told The Record in a statement the RESTRICT Act was unnecessary and would only complicate existing negotiations between the company and the DOC.
"We appreciate that some members of Congress remain willing to explore options for addressing national security concerns that don't have the effect of censoring millions of Americans," Oberwetter said. "A 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."
Although Oberwetter noted Biden already has the authority to address TikTok's national security concerns through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, Warner said the new proposal was ancillary.
"We need a comprehensive, risk-based approach that proactively tackles sources of potentially dangerous technology before they gain a foothold in America, so we aren't playing Whac-a-Mole and scrambling to catch up once they're already ubiquitous," proclaimed Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.