Lawmakers Introduce Legislation to Ban TikTok Transactions
U.S. lawmakers unveiled legislation this week that would block certain transactions with TikTok or other social media companies under the influence of China, Russia and several other foreign countries. The Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act, introduced in the Senate by Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and in the House by Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., “would protect Americans by blocking and prohibiting all transactions” with TikTok, the lawmakers said.
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“The federal government has yet to take a single meaningful action to protect American users from the threat of TikTok,” Rubio said Dec. 13. “There is no more time to waste on meaningless negotiations with a [Chinese Communist Party]-puppet company. It is time to ban Beijing-controlled TikTok for good.”
The Biden administration and TikTok in September reportedly drafted a preliminary agreement to resolve national security concerns raised by ByteDance, which could ultimately involve a mitigation agreement overseen by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (see 2209260008 and 2211150009).