BILL: Banning TikTok - The RESTRICT Act - S.686

Updated - April 18, 2023

• The political difficulties of banning TikTok are becoming more evident to lawmakers.
• TikTok's valuation is private but is estimated at over $40 billion, which makes it unlikely that Washington will find an American buyer for the app.
• Antitrust laws would rule out Meta and Google from making an offer on the app.
• Florian Ederer, an economics professor at Yale University, said that tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft:

"[A]lready have plenty of antitrust problems. They don’t want any additional ones.”

• James Lewis from the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies said:

“I don’t really care what Congress writes, or what the administration writes. They’re not going to ban TikTok. They can ban financial transactions, or they can try to force divestiture. But they don’t have the ability to ban TikTok itself.”

• He continued:

“All roads lead to court. ByteDance has tons of money, they’ll hire an army of lawyers. And this will be fought out.” 

• Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), the chair of the House Select Committee on China said:

“Time is not on our side. Every day that passes is a day that we have not taken action on this critical issue. And I think TikTok is trying to wait out the clock.”

• Experts believe that Washington's case against TikTok could also run afoul of the First Amendment.

Updated - April 5, 2023

• TikTok creators from a wide range of industries continue to voice opposition to a potential Congressional ban on the popular social media app.
• The culinary magazine Bon Appétit recently wrote in TikTik's defense:

"For budding chefs and food creators, the app has been vital for their career. They’re worried about what would happen if a ban becomes reality."

Updated - March 28, 2023

• TikTokers are flooding Washington, D.C., and the platform, urging Congress not to ban TikTok. 
• Users are adding the hashtags #tiktok #tiktokban #unitedstates #politics #bills686

Updated - March 22, 2023

• Over a dozen countries have introduced full, partial, or government sector bans on TikTok due to growing security concerns.
• The U.K. and New Zealand last week announced measures to block TikTok from government devices because of security considerations.
• British news outlet BBC advised staff to delete the app from their devices unless they needed the app for marketing or advertising purposes.
• Multiple colleges in the U.S. are banning TikTok from their local Internet networks, citing security concerns.

Updated - March 16, 2023

• The Biden Administration's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has warned TikTok that it could be banned if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, does not sell its stake in the U.S. version of the app.
• TikTok said it will continue to invest in data security efforts, like Project Texas,  with software company Oracle to separate its U.S. operations from its Chinese division and to store all U.S. user data in the U.S.
• It is not clear what the divestment will look like because a large percentage of ByteDance's shares are owned by global investment firms. 
• In 2020, The Trump Administration threatened to ban TikTok if it didn't sell to a U.S. company.

Bill

Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology (RESTRICT) Act - S.686

Bill Overview

• The bipartisan bill was introduced by twelve senators. It was led by Mark Warner (D-Va.), Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and John Thune (R-S.D.)
• Co-sponsored by Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Dan Sullivan (R-Ark.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), and Mitt Romney (R-Utah)
• House and Senate: Not yet voted
• President: Not yet signed
• TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew is due to appear before Congress on March 23.

Bill Overview

• The bill would give the administration the capacity to ban Chinese-owned TikTok and any foreign-based technologies that pose a risk to national security.
• The White House backed the legislation which would create a formal process for the government to “deter, disrupt, prevent, prohibit, investigate, or otherwise mitigate” potentially dangerous technologies. 
• The bill would require Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to identify and address foreign threats to information and communications technology products and services.

What's in the Bill?

Enables the Commerce Department to impose restrictions or ban technologies

• The restrictions would apply to apps, technologies, or services that pose a risk to national security.
• This could also mean that American companies, including app stores like Apple and Google, could be forced to cut ties with certain apps. 
• Unlike the earlier House bill, Warner’s Senate measure creates a framework for punishing foreign companies that pose a risk to U.S. security.

Reflects growing concern over TikTok data privacy

• TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance and is used by 100 million Americans.
• There has been growing concern that American data could be compromised or shared with the Chinese government.
• TikTok rejects spying accusations and said it has spent more than $1.5 billion on data security efforts.

Enables heightened monitoring of certain countries

• While the bill has a broad application, it does enable a focus and heightened monitoring of certain countries, which include China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.
• The bill also provides the Commerce secretary with a handful of lesser tools to mitigate risky transactions, like the ability to force companies to divest services.

Comes a week after a vote on the DATA Act, which would enable Biden to sanction TikTok if user data was leaked

• The RESTRICT Act comes a week after the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted on a separate measure to restrict access to TikTok, entitled the Deterring America’s Technological Adversaries Act, or DATA Act.
• The DATA Act would empower Biden to sanction or ban TikTok if the administration finds that it shared U.S. user data with the Chinese government.

What Supporters are Saying

• White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said, 

"[It] would strengthen our ability to address discrete risks posed by individual transactions, and systemic risks posed by certain classes of transactions involving countries of concern in sensitive technology sectors."

• Sponsor Sen. Mark Warner said:

“Today, the threat that everyone is talking about is TikTok, and how it could enable surveillance by the Chinese Communist Party, or facilitate the spread of malign influence campaigns in the U.S."

What Opponents are Saying

• TikTok criticized the proposed bill:

"[A] U.S. ban on TikTok is a ban on the export of American culture and values to the billion-plus people who use our service worldwide."

Do you support a ban on TikTok?

— Emma Kansiz & Josh Herman