Senators introduce bill to ban TikTok, other tech platforms

On Tuesday, Senators introduced a bill that would give President Biden the ability to ban TikTok and other technology platforms owned by foreign adversaries.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va, said TikTok is not the only threat from hostile nations, noting that the U.S. has had to fend off telecommunications equipment from China's Huawei and anti-virus software from Russia's Kaspersky Lab.

Warner said at a press conference on Tuesday that we lack a whole-of-government approach at this moment in time. Instead of playing Whac-A Mole on Huawei one day, ZTE the next, Kaspersky, TikTok, we need a more comprehensive approach to evaluating and mitigating the threats posed by these foreign technologies from these adversarial nations. The Commerce Department must identify, deter, disrupt, prevent, prohibit and mitigate technologies from foreign adversaries that pose a risk to national security, as part of the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology RESTRICT Act. The bill was praised by White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who said it would prevent hostile nations from spying on the U.S. with exploitative technology.

The legislation would provide the U.S. government with new ways to mitigate the national security risks posed by high-risk technology businesses operating in the United States, Sullivan said in a statement.

In recent months, lawmakers have raised alarms about TikTok, as they warned that the company is subject to Chinese national security laws that require it to turn over data to the state.

Dozens of Republican and Democratic governors have banned TikTok on government devices, while the White House instructed federal agencies last month to remove the app from all government devices and systems within 30 days.

The bill passed by Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week that would give Biden the power to ban TikTok, but it is not clear when the legislation will go to the House floor.

TikTok did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.