The White House said it supports legislation that would give the U.S. Commerce Department the authority to regulate and ban foreign-based technologies, including TikTok.
A bipartisan group of senators introduced the bill, known as the RESTRICT Act, on Tuesday. It's the first time that the Biden administration has formally backed a TikTok bill in Congress.
- Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and John Thune (R-SD) led the group of 10 other bipartisan senators, who co-sponsored the bill.
- The
bill would authorize the Commerce Department to review and mitigate
"information communications and technology transactions," such as data
transfers or software updates, that threaten national security.
- The
restrictions, which could include a ban, cover foreign technologies
from China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba.
- While the bill doesn't specifically name TikTok, the senators repeatedly mentioned the Chinese-owned video app in press releases.
- Thune
called the RESTRICT Act a "holistic, methodical approach to address the
threats posed by technology platforms – like TikTok – from foreign
adversaries."
- Similarly, U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan said it “presents a systematic framework for addressing technology-based threats to the security and safety of Americans.”
