The White House urged the US Congress to quickly pass legislation introduced on Tuesday that would provide the federal government with new powers to ban Chinese-owned video app TikTok and other foreign-based technologies if they pose a national security threat.
“We look forward to continue working with both Democrats and Republicans on this bill, and urge Congress to act quickly to send it to the president’s desk,” US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement, according to media reports.
The White House threw its support behind a new bipartisan Senate bill that would empower the Commerce Department to review deals, software updates or data transfers by information and communications technology in which a foreign adversary has an interest.
TikTok, which has become a viral sensation in the US by allowing kids to create and share short videos, is owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance.
Under the new proposal, if the Commerce secretary determines that a transaction poses “undue or unacceptable risk” to US national security, it can be referred to the President for action, up to and including forced divestment, CNBC reported.
The was dubbed the RESTRICT Act, which stands for Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology.
“This bill presents a systematic framework for addressing technology-based threats to the security and safety of Americans,” Sullivan said in the statement.
He also urged Congress “to act quickly to send the bill to the President’s desk.”
CNBC said a TikTok spokeswoman did not respond on Tuesday to its request for comment.
However, before the bill was introduced, a TikTok spokesperson was quoted in media reports, saying the Biden Administration does not need additional authority from Congress to address national security concerns about TikTok.
“It can approve the deal negotiated with CFIUS over two years that it has spent the last six months reviewing,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
A US ban on TikTok is a ban on the export of American culture and values to the billion-plus people who use our service worldwide,” the company said in the statement, adding that “we hope that Congress will explore solutions to their national security concerns that won’t have the effect of censoring the voices of millions of Americans.”
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