Biden’s TikTok ticking time bomb

President Joe Biden faces increasing pressure to deal with the threat to national safety posed TikTok by Chinese-owned social media apps.

However, reports have it that the TikTok administration interagency panel has demanded ByteDance, its Chinese parent company to divest from the United States or be expelled. Critics are wondering why this took so long.

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It is “deeply discouraging” According to Michael McCaul, House Foreign Affairs Chairman (R-TX), some Democrats delayed their response to TikTok. This only further undermines national safety.

“Make no mistake — TikTok is a security threat,” McCaul stated that Washington Examiner. “It allows the [Chinese Communist Party] to manipulate and monitor its users while it gobbles up Americans’ data to be used for their malign activities.”

“Anyone with TikTok downloaded on their device has given the CCP a backdoor to all their personal information,” He said. “It’s a spy balloon into … their phone.”

Reps. Mike Gallagher (R. WI) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi(D-IL), top Republican and Democrat on House Select CCP committee are more optimistic. They described reports on the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (which is Treasury-led and consists of nine Cabinet level officials) as being “more optimistic”. “encouraging.”

“While the details are important — including complete control over TikTok’s crucial algorithm and complete separation of TikTok from all CCP-controlled investors — these reports confirm what we have long maintained: TikTok, under its current ownership and control structure, is an unmitigable threat to our national security and needs to be dealt with as such,” They signed a joint declaration. “We urge the administration to act accordingly, and for Congress to codify this decision in legislation, for not just TikTok, but all the TikToks to come.”

Director of the Bipartisan Technology Center’s Technology Project, Tom Romanoff is skeptical about the practicality and practicality of a ban. “thousands of apps feed data to the platform,” So, the administration would have code integration prohibited if it tried to preserve freedom of speech.

“No agency or agencies want to be labeled as restricting free speech in this environment,” He said. “With Congress, states, and the federal government pressing on multiple fronts to ban the app and the president saying he supports the RESTRICT Act, they were left with few choices.”

The White House endorsed the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act (RESTRICT) last week. Jake Sullivan, national security advisor, stated that it would be a good idea to limit the number of emerging security threats that risk information and communications technology. “strengthen our ability to address discrete risks posed by individual transactions and systemic risks posed by certain classes of transactions involving countries of concern in sensitive technology sectors.”

“Senators have been pressing for a decision for a month now. Their bills indicate an urgency to act regardless of a CFIUS decision,” Romanoff also added. “I expect Congress to continue pushing for a legislative solution to the issue.”

While the involvement of lawmakers highlights complaints about the administration’s slow policymaking process, it also allows for political cover for a controversial position, especially among Generation Z which is an unpredictable voting bloc.

According to Darrell West, Brookings Institution Center for Technology Innovation senior fellow, a ban on TikTok would cause problems for Biden due to the app’s omnipotence.

“Those individuals will wonder why an app they love is being banned,” The TechTank co-editor-in-chief said. “Some Democrats were planning on using TikTok in the upcoming campaign because of its appeal among young people.”

He said that a ban would lead to China’s retaliation against an American counterpart.

Quinnipiac University published this week a poll that showed almost half the respondents supported a national ban. “foreign technology,” While 42% support a ban on TikTok and 42% are against it, the majority of Americans include TikTok. Republicans and independents were more likely to support a ban than Democrats. The rate at which respondents were against the ban was almost 2 to 1.

Karine Jean Pierre, press secretary, denied that Sullivan’s RESTRICT Act declaration was a sign of the White House’s frustration with CFIUS’s progress. It could also have been part of a negotiation strategy. TikTok spends millions lobbying and billions on U.S. infrastructure in an effort to please the Administration.

“We’ve always said protecting Americans is — especially as it relates to national security — is a priority for this president,” Last week, she spoke out. “That’s what you’re seeing. You know, CFIUS is doing its review. There’s bipartisanship … in Congress. And I think that’s an important way to move forward.”

Jean-Pierre was nabbed for his political views the day before, after Gina Raimondo, Commerce Secretary, said that Biden would. “literally lose every voter under 35” If he bans TikTok.

“This is not about a political concern,” The press secretary replied. “This is about making sure that we do the right thing for the American people.”

Jean-Pierre also had to defend government’s delay in banning TikTok on government phones, after the White House collaborated at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. with platform stars.

“The White House, clearly … does not use TikTok,” She said. “But one thing that we do believe in is meeting the American people where they are. And the reality is some, many of them, millions of them … are on this app.”

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Biden indirectly addressed TikTok in his State of the Union Address this year. He called for laws to prevent social media companies collecting data on children, and targeting them with advertising. This is in addition to a supplement to an executive order last year that limited the data they can collect on users.

Jean-Pierre’s No. 2, Olivia Dalton, also stressed how efficient the administration is “taking every step we can within the executive branch authority, including enacting the first-ever presidential directive defining additional national security factors for CFIUS to consider.”