.-') _ .-') _
( OO ) ) ( OO ) )
.-----. ,--./ ,--,' ,--./ ,--,'
' .--./ | \ | |\ | \ | |\
| |('-. | \| | )| \| | )
/_) |OO )| . |/ | . |/
|| |`-'| | |\ | | |\ |
(_' '--'\ | | \ | | | \ |
`-----' `--' `--' `--' `--'
lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
/
TikTok is in the hot seat once again in Washington
By Brian Fung, CNN
Updated:
11:06 AM EDT, Fri April 19, 2024
Source: CNN
TikTok is again facing an imminent threat from Congress.
On Wednesday, House Republicans added a hot-button bill that could lead
to a nationwide TikTok ban to intended to help Israel and Ukraine.
House Speaker Mike Johnson aims to hold a vote on the aid package as
early as Saturday. If approved, it could fast-track what has become the
most serious risk to TikTok’s US business since former President
Donald Trump of the popular app in 2020.
An earlier version of the TikTok bill in March, but it has become
bogged down in the Senate. By including it in the aid package, House
Republicans hope to force the Senate to a quick vote on a measure
supporters say is Americans’ personal data from the Chinese
government.
Opponents, including TikTok and a range of civil society groups, have
argued the bill risks violating TikTok users’ .
In pressuring Senate colleagues to approve the TikTok bill alongside
military equipment for Ukraine, House Republicans are angling to avoid
the lengthy regular process that could delay a Senate vote on the app,
which has 170 million US users. President Joe Biden has said he would
sign the House TikTok bill if it reaches his desk.
The contains some updates. For example, it sets out a nine-month
timeframe for the app’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, to sell the social
media company. If it misses the deadline, TikTok would be banned from
US app stores.
That proposed time limit is longer than the roughly six months proposed
in . The new bill would also give the president the option to extend
the deadline by another 90 days if he determines there’s been
progress toward a sale.
The changes appear aimed at addressing concerns by some senators that
the original six-month deadline was too short. Whether the revisions
are enough to gain Senate approval, however, remains unclear, as some
leading senators have signaled desires for a slower approach to a
TikTok bill.
One key senator who was doubtful of the initial House TikTok bill
appeared satisfied.
“I’m very happy that Speaker Johnson and House leaders incorporated
my recommendation to extend the ByteDance divestment period from six
months to a year,” said Washington Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell,
who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, in a statement. “As I’ve
said, extending the divestment period is necessary to ensure there is
enough time for a new buyer to get a deal done. I support this updated
legislation.”
For years, US policymakers have expressed fears that TikTok’s links
to China through its parent company could allow the Chinese government
unauthorized access to TikTok’s US user data. That information could
potentially help the Chinese government identify intelligence targets
or facilitate disinformation campaigns, they have said. Some other
countries have already banned TikTok.
TikTok has pushed back strongly against those claims, saying there is
no evidence the Chinese government has accessed US user data to date
and that the company has taken steps to insulate Americans’ personal
information. That includes Project Texas, an initiative that involved
moving TikTok’s US user data onto servers controlled and overseen by
Oracle, the US technology giant.
Some policy experts say a more comprehensive way to deal with
TikTok’s potential national security risks would be for Congress to
pass a national privacy law that regulates how all businesses and
organizations can handle Americans’ personal information.
This month, Cantwell and her Republican counterpart in the House,
Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, that could do just that,
breaking a yearslong deadlock over key issues including the scope and
reach of a unified, national data privacy standard.
DIR <- back to index