White House applauds bill to allow ban on TikTok

The legislation is backed by Democrat and Republican senators in a rare act of political entente by US legislators.

Jake Sullivan says the bill would empower the government to prevent foreign governments from exploiting technology services. Picture: AFP

: The White House has welcomed a bill that would allow the US to ban Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok.

The bill was backed by Mark Warner, a senior Democrat senator, and John Thune, a Republican, in a rare act of political entente by US legislators.

“We applaud the bipartisan group of senators, led by senators Warner and Thune, who today introduced the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act,” US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday.

The bipartisan bill “would empower the United States government to prevent certain foreign governments from exploiting technology services ... in a way that poses risks to Americans’ sensitive data and our national security,” Mr Sullivan said.

The Senate bill and the backing of the White House accelerated the political momentum against TikTok, which is also the target of a separate piece of legislation in the US House of Representatives. “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,” Senator Warner said.

Appearing tough on China is a rare issue with potential for bipartisan support in the Republican-run house and the Senate, where President Joe Biden’s Democrats hold a majority.

With Congress and the White House aligned on the idea that a law is necessary to curb the powers of TikTok, the chances of the legislation making it into law are greatly increased.

TikTok reacted by pointing to its months of negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, which assesses foreign investments’ risks to US national security.

The bill comes after US government workers in January were banned from installing TikTok on their devices. Public servants at the EU, as well as in Canada and Denmark, are also barred from having it on their phones.

AFP