ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, as well as other social media companies under the “substantial influence” of China, Russia, and other countries, will be “blocked and prohibited from performing any transactions” under a Tuesday law.
In response to revelations that American users’ data had been accessed in China, three members of Congress introduced a bill on Tuesday that would ban TikTok from operating in the US.
The bill, introduced together with a pair of bipartisan colleagues in the House of Representatives, isn’t about creative videos – it’s about an app that collects data on millions of Americans every day.
In the Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act – or the ANTI-SOCIAL CPP Act — all transactions between TikTok and ByteDance, which is based in China, would be blocked and prohibited. Also, it would prohibit US social media companies with more than 1 million users from operating in China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, or Venezuela.
A cosponsor of the House companion bill, Illinois Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi, called the legislation “a strong step” to protect Americans against “nefarious digital surveillance operations.”
We must not allow hostile powers to potentially control social media networks that could easily be weaponized against us at a time when the Chinese Communist Party and our other adversaries abroad are seeking any advantage they can gain against the United States through espionage and mass surveillance,” Krishnamoorthi said.
Source and Original Article: Buzzfeed News
