Bipartisan Legislation Targets TikTok, Other Tech Companies Owned by ‘Adversarial Nations’

An bipartisan group is working to strengthen the federal government’s ability to stop TikTok, and other foreign-owned entities, from operating in America.

Sens. Senators. they co-sponsor legislation which would allow the Commerce Department to have greater authority over tech companies owned or controlled by six foreign adversaries.

“I think we all know that over the past several years foreign technology products from adversarial nations China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela, have really tried to establish a foothold in American markets,” Warner stated this at a press conference on March 7.

“Today, everybody’s talking about TikTok and the ability of that platform to be used by the [Chinese] Communist Party (CCP) both to take on data but also potentially as a malign influence and propaganda tool.”

Because of its links with the CCP through ByteDance parent company, TikTok social media giant has been seen as a security risk for years.

China-based ByteDance has to comply with CCP laws which mandate companies to provide all information to the regime. Also, it is believed that TikTok data was used by the company to illegally track down journalists from the United States who were writing about their relationship with the CCP regime.

Warner claimed that federal efforts against TikTok, and other businesses, were stopped by inability to add more companies to different trade bans.

He stated that the government required a better tool to accomplish this goal.

“These risks are not going away and, unfortunately, our tools to date have been relatively limited,” Warner said.

“We need a more comprehensive approach to evaluate and mitigate these threats posed by these foreign technologies from these adversarial nations.”

Thune also stated that there is a lack of adequate. “comprehensive process” Congress was left to address these issues. “whack-a-mole” With many foreign companies, including ZTE and Huawei.

He said that his company’s apparent connections to the CCP presented too serious a risk for the regime to use TikTok in order to increase its campaign of spying on American citizens, and to sow disinformation among U.S. audience members.

“It is widely acknowledged that TikTok is a threat to our national security, which is why Congress took steps last year to ban the platform on government devices,” Thune said.

“I’m particularly concerned about TikTok’s connections to the Chinese Communist Party which repeatedly spies on American citizens.”

Thune stated that the CCP’s corrupt influence, constant attempts to hide the truth about overseas spy campaigns, and the origins COVID-19 would mean the government needs to be more aggressive in its efforts to stop TikTok from undermining the United States.

“It’s safe to assume that if the CCP is willing to lie about its spy balloon and cover up the origins of the worst pandemic in 100 years, they’ll lie about using TikTok to spy on American citizens,” Thune said.

“The Chinese Communist Party has proven over the last few years that it’s willing to lie about just about everything. That likely won’t end with TikTok, which is why it’s important to establish a holistic and methodical approach to the challenges posed by technology from foreign adversaries.”