Bipartisan Ban On TikTok Introduced By Sen. Rubio

Topline

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) announced bipartisan legislation Tuesday to ban TikTok in the U.S., citing national security concerns that the app—owned by Chinese firm ByteDance—could be used to spy on Americans, following a surge of states banning the app from government devices.

Key Facts

The ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act would prohibit and block all transactions from any social media company in or “under the influence of” China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela, though the act only refers to TikTok.

Companion legislation sponsored by Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) in the House of Representatives was also announced.

Both Rubio and Gallagher co-authored an op-ed in the Washington Post last month in a call for a national ban on TikTok, citing a Forbes article that revealed 23 of ByteDance’s directors previously worked for Chinese state media publications and a New York Times article that found the app could track user keystrokes.

ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.

Crucial Quote

“All of these things are in the hands of a government that doesn’t share our values, and that has a mission that’s very much at odds with what’s in the best interests of the United States,” FBI Director Chris Wray told an audience at the University of Michigan earlier this month, according to the Associated Press, adding that data from the app could be used to “manipulate content, and if they want to, to use it for influence operations.”

Tangent

A Forbes exclusive found that TikTok accounts run by the Chinese government attacked U.S. politicians before the midterm elections and pushed divisive social issues without disclosing the accounts were run by a foreign government.

Key Background

TikTok’s surging U.S. popularity and ties to China have drawn scrutiny for years. An executive order seeking to ban TikTok and Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat was signed by former President Donald Trump in 2020, citing concerns the app could threaten national security, though the order was later blocked by a federal judge. President Joe Biden revoked the order the following year, though concerns over the app’s access to user data later led Public Citizen, a prominent progressive advocacy group, to call on the Federal Trade Commission and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to investigate TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance. Since then, some states have banned the app from government devices, including Utah, Texas, South Dakota, Maryland and Alabama, while members of Congress from other states have urged their governors to issue similar orders. Amid the bans, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) has filed two lawsuits against ByteDance accusing the company of violating state consumer protection laws and deceiving users with its age rating of 12-plus in app stores.

Further Reading

Republicans Target TikTok: Alabama Latest State To Ban The App Amid Security Concerns (Forbes)

On TikTok, Chinese State Media Pushes Divisive Videos About U.S. Politicians (Forbes)