This article on ‘US lawmakers introduce a bill to ban TikTok: All you need to know‘ was written by Monika Yadav, an intern at Legal Upanishad.
Introduction
This article deals with the bill introduced by US legislation for the effective ban on the usage of social media platforms that create threats to the security of the nation as well as of individual data as the app operated by China (TikTok) has allegedly used the data and location of individual results in manipulation of the content the personal view on that particular app. Recently, on Tuesday a bill has been introduced in US Congress to prohibit such activities. In this article, we discuss the same in detail.
About the bill
Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, on Tuesday, unveiled a bipartisan bill to outlaw the widely known TikTok online networking platform in China, growing demands on the app’s founder ByteDance Ltd. following American concerns that the programme could be utilized for spying on or criticizing citizens.
According to a press statement by Rubio’s office, the measure would stop any transactions out of any social media platforms based in or influence by China and Russia.
Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher and Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi are the sponsors of a guide bill within the U.S. House of Representatives.
In response to a call for remark, ByteDance was silent right away.
Gallagher compared the app to “digital fentanyl,” saying that allowing it to continue operating in the United States would be similar to enabling the Soviet Union to acquire the New York Times, Washington Post, and significant telecast network services throughout the Cold War. The app is approximated to have one billion average monthly subscribers.
In 2020, the previous president Donald Trump made an effort to prevent new U.S. consumers from installing WeChat & TikTok, which might have proficiently stopped the usage of these applications in the country, but he lost several legal challenges.
Due to concerns that U.S. customer data would be transferred to China’s communist government, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a significant national security agency of the U.S. authorities, directed ByteDance to withdraw from TikTok in 2020.
President Joe Biden authorized the Commerce Department to study the security issues raised by the applications after President Donald Trump dropped his executive orders which aimed to outlaw the downloading in June 2021.
False statements with political overtones: US to Ban TikTok
The business might just have misinformed Congress regarding the amount of customer data it shared with China, according to issues expressed by House Republican representatives the previous month.
Republican leaders upon that House’s energy & commerce and inspection committees, Cathy McMorris Rodgers and James Comer, respectively, addressed TikTok to express their concerns about what they saw to be misleading material in the staff briefings.
The Republican congressmen wrote to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew claiming that “some of the material TikTok gave throughout the staff briefing seems to be inaccurate or deceptive,” besides that “TikTok somehow doesn’t monitor U.S. customer locations.”
Republican lawmakers will take over the House next January, or the letter might be a precursor to the intense investigation that intends to give Chinese corporations.
Because of worries about national security, several states, the majority of which are governed by Republicans, have recently banned the usage of TikTok on computers and mobile devices used by state governments, particularly Alabama and Utah from Monday.
“Unsettlingly, TikTok collects enormous amounts of data, the majority of which carries no real relation to the app’s purported function of video content. This intolerable susceptibility to Chinese espionage efforts is brought by the use of TikTok in conjunction with governmental IT infrastructure “Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama stated in a release.
TikTok is prohibited on state-owned gadgets in Texas, Maryland, & South Dakota, among many other U.S. states.
Indiana has indeed filed a lawsuit against the app, claiming that it misleads users regarding China’s accessibility to their information and exposes kids to inappropriate material.
A spokesman for TikTok expressed disappointment in the fact that “so many states are rushing on the trend to enact legislation based on unsubstantiated, politically tinged misinformation regarding TikTok” in a statement released on Monday.
The Director of the FBI is concerned about potential influence activities
Republican Brendan Carr, the federal communications commissioner, posted on Twitter claiming at least nine states had taken measures against TikTok “focused on the substantial security dangers it offers.”
In congressional testimony the previous month, FBI Director Chris Wray warned of the danger that the Chinese authorities may use the video-sharing software to manipulate users or take access to their gadgets.
The Chinese government “may be able to exploit [TikTok] to manage data gathering on millions of individuals or manipulate the recommendation system, which could be utilized for impact activities,” according to Wray, who listed the threats.
He added that Beijing might be able to “manage programs on millions of gadgets” by using the app, allowing it the chance to “technically compromise” such gadgets.
According to Vanessa Pappas, a TikTok executive, TikTok was “heading in the right direction towards that final deal with the U.S. authorities that will further secure U.S. user data and properly satisfy U.S. national security needs,” she told Congress in September.
Conclusion
According to a June BuzzFeed News story, workers of ByteDance, the parent firm of TikTok, who are based in China, had access to private information about American users. TikTok admitted that Chinese staff members have some access to U.S. data but denied ever giving any to Chinese authorities. A number of states have already taken action to forbid TikTok use on equipment used by the government and the introduction of this bill is a big step by the United States Government to place a permanent ban on the use of TikTok.
Reference
- U.S. Lawmakers introduce bill to ban TikTok, Available at: https://www-cbc-ca.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/ (Accessed: December 15, 2022).
- Olafimihan Oshin, Lawmakers introduce bill to ban TikTok in US, Available at: https://thehill-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/thehill.com/policy/technology/3773695-lawmakers-introduce-bill-to-ban-tiktok-in-us/amp/ (Accessed: December 15, 2022).
- Brian Fung, US Lawmakers introduce bill to ban TikTok social media app, Available at: https://abc7chicago-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/abc7chicago.com/amp/tiktok-ban-in-us-marco-rubio-bytedance/ (Accessed: December 15, 2022).