The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday unanimously advanced a measure that would require Chinese-owned ByteDance, the company behind the popular app TikTok, to sell its U.S. subsidiary within six months, or face nationwide sanctions. faced a ban.
The measure was introduced about 48 hours before the 50-0 vote, but a confidential briefing last week by lawmakers with U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials prompted the committee to move quickly on the measure. As a result, the schedule was significantly shortened.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Thursday that TikTok and its CEO Shou Zhi Chu He mentioned the Chinese Communist Party’s relationship with parent company ByteDance and “giving the Chinese Communist Party access to our data.”
In remarks before the bill’s increase, Rogers said the Chinese government was using its access to Americans’ data for “nefarious purposes.”
The committee adjourned for another confidential conference before the vote.
The committee also introduced legislation introduced by Mr. Rogers and Ranking Member Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D.N.J.) that would allow data brokers to sell Americans’ location and health information to foreign adversaries. Another bill passed 50-0 to ban .
Rogers said TikTok’s location and other trackers are embedded in sites across the web and can collect data on people even if they have never used TikTok. He said ByteDance is under investigation by the Justice Department for using the app to surveil journalists who reported on the company’s data collection practices.
If passed, the TikTok bill would be the culmination of more than four years of efforts begun by the Trump administration to target China’s ownership of TikTok.
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance agreed in 2020 to store U.S. users’ data in the U.S. in a deal involving Oracle and Walmart, which will own 20% of the U.S. entity.
But lawmakers aren’t satisfied with the deal or its data security promises.
Pallone said that before the price increase, lawmakers were hearing from intelligence and national security experts “about the threat posed by foreign adversaries’ control of communications applications and their ability to easily purchase Americans’ data from data brokers.” He said he had received an explanation.
He added that lawmakers were briefed on “the constitutional issues involved when the law identifies specific companies and applications for further scrutiny, particularly when it comes to speech and association.”
Apps like TikTok are “modern media companies, and we have a long history of restricting the ownership of airwaves by foreign governments and individuals due to national security concerns,” Pallone said. “This is no different. I take the concerns raised by the intelligence community very seriously.”
presidential authority
The TikTok action would give the president the power to deny access to U.S. users unless other social media apps owned and operated by foreign adversaries sever ties with their foreign owners. Such restrictions apply to apps with more than 1 million users per year. TikTok has about 170 million users in the United States.
Supporters of the bill have repeatedly stated that the purpose of the bill is not to ban the app, but to force ByteDance to sell it.
“Through this bill, we want to ensure divestment, not censorship,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), who introduced the bill with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill.), on Wednesday. He said this at a press conference. “Even if TikTok is owned by an entity other than those controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, Americans can still share whatever content they want on the app.”
Mr. Gallagher is the chairman of the House Select Committee on the Communist Party of China, and Mr. Krishnamoorthi is the committee’s top Democrat. The bill has bipartisan support from 18 other members of Congress.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday that the administration is working with lawmakers to develop the bill, and once it reaches his desk, President Joe Biden will sign it into law. said.
Jean-Pierre said the government views the issue as a national security measure aimed at keeping key communications tools from “in the hands of those who could do us harm.” said.
Jean-Pierre was asked about the Biden campaign’s use of TikTok to reach younger voters, given the potential risks posed by the app, and said the campaign is choosing to use the app. “I’m going to let them talk about it.”
Rogers said other ByteDance-owned apps such as Lemon8 and CapCut have also been influenced by the Chinese government, and that the measures targeting TikTok also apply to other foreign-owned apps targeting and monitoring Americans. He said it would be done.
Lemon8 is marketed as a social media platform that features photos and videos about food, travel, beauty, and other lifestyle topics. CapCut is short video editing software.
Measures to ban data brokers from selling Americans’ health and location information to foreign buyers aim to stop sensitive personal data from falling into the hands of China, Russia and other “countries of concern” This follows Biden’s executive order last week. ”
[Related: Biden cracks down on personal data sales to China, Russia]
Pallone said the measure would give the Federal Trade Commission enforcement powers, including the ability to seek civil penalties of more than $50,000 for each violation.
Representative Lori Trahan, D-Massachusetts, originally proposed an amendment that would have prohibited data brokers from collecting sensitive data on Americans, but later withdrew it. Trahan said data brokers could easily overcome the ban on selling Americans’ data to adversaries by selling to foreign intermediaries, who could then sell the same data to prohibited countries. said.
Trahan withdrew the amendment after Pallone and Rogers said they intended to include broad prohibitions in a comprehensive federal data privacy law.
