New Bipartisan Bill Could Ban Transactions With TikTok, Other Foreign Tech Products

Senators unveiled legislation this week that would give the administration new authority to block transactions with TikTok and other foreign technology products that threaten U.S. national security. The bill, which has bipartisan support and was endorsed by the White House, would require the Commerce Department to establish new procedures to prohibit or mitigate transactions involving information and communications technology products “in which any foreign adversary has any interest and poses undue or unacceptable risk to national security.”

Under the new procedures, Commerce would prioritize foreign ICT products used in critical infrastructure or that are emerging, foundational or “disruptive” technologies with “serious national security implications.” The legislation would help the U.S. avoid “playing whack-a-mole on Huawei one day, ZTE the next,” said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who introduced the bill with Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., at a March 7 news conference. “We need a more comprehensive approach to evaluating and mitigating these threats posed by these foreign technologies from these adversarial nations.”

Thune said he’s “particularly concerned” about TikTok’s ties to the Chinese government, adding that the bill ultimately would lead to “banning platforms like TikTok.” The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is working with the Chinese app and its parent company, ByteDance, to try to resolve national security concerns, and lawmakers have urged the committee to move faster (see 2212210007 and 2302220024).

“It's high time we address this issue,” Thune said. “This is one of those issues that we can work in a bipartisan way to solve, and I think get something on the President's desk and start to attack this problem.” The bill, titled the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act, has 12 Democratic and Republican co-sponsors and has support in the House, Warner said.

It also has support from the White House. The bill would “empower” the U.S. to “prevent certain foreign governments from exploiting technology services operating in the United States in a way that poses risks to Americans’ sensitive data and our national security,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said. He said the White House will work with lawmakers on the bill and urged Congress to “act quickly to send it to the president’s desk.”