U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and other U.S. senators unveil legislation that would allow the Biden administration to “ban or prohibit” foreign technology products such as the Chinese-owned video app TikTok during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 7, 2023.
Bonnie Cash | Reuters
The White House threw its support behind a new bipartisan Senate bill on Tuesday that would give the Biden administration the power to ban TikTok in the U.S.
The legislation would empower the Commerce Department to review deals, software updates or data transfers by information and communications technology in which a foreign adversary has an interest. TikTok, which has become a viral sensation in the U.S. by allowing kids to create and share short videos, is owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance.
Under the new proposal, if the Commerce secretary determines that a transaction poses “undue or unacceptable risk” to U.S. national security, it can be referred to the president for action, up to and including forced divestment.
The bill was dubbed the RESTRICT Act, which stands for Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, formally unveiled the legislation on Capitol Hill alongside a bipartisan group of Senate co-sponsors. The White House issued a statement publicly endorsing the bill while Warner was briefing reporters.
“This bill presents a systematic framework for addressing technology-based threats to the security and safety of Americans,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement, adding that it would give the government new tools to mitigate national security risks in the tech sector.
Sullivan urged Congress “to act quickly to send the bill to the President’s desk.”
“Critically, it would strengthen our ability to address discrete risks posed by individual transactions, and systemic risks posed by certain classes of…
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