This approach is sponsored by Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, in conjunction with similar projects in the House of Representatives for Representatives Mike Gallagher and Democrat Raja Krishnamurti.
“The bill aims to protect Americans from adversaries who might use some social media to monitor them, learn sensitive data about them, and spread influence or propaganda campaigns,” the lawmakers said in a statement reported by NBC News.
What is the future of the ban?
• Under this measure, if approved, President Joe Biden can impose sanctions on TikTok and other social media companies, to ban commercial operation in the United States.
• The legislation comes at a time when a number of Republican state governors have imposed restrictions on the use of “Tik Tok” on government-owned devices.
• After the midterm elections, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned members of Congress that the Chinese government could use TikTok to control users’ devices for influence or espionage purposes.
• This is not the first legislation on TikTok. In 2021, US lawmakers proposed a law banning the use of the platform by federal agencies, and Rubio introduced a bill that would force some application makers to disclose proprietary information.
• Another bill introduced this fall to prevent TikTok from allowing employees based in China to access user data of US citizens.
• “Tik Tok” has previously said that it does not share any information with the Chinese government, and that a US-based security team decides who can access American user data.
• Platform spokesperson Hillary McQuade said: “We will continue to update members of Congress on plans developed under the auspices of our country’s top national security agencies to further secure our platform in the United States.”
economic cold war
Saeed Sadiq, an academic and political analyst interested in American affairs, considered that the move of US lawmakers against “Tik Tok” comes within the framework of “the cold economic war between Washington and Beijing, as the first is constantly trying to impose sanctions on the second to limit its expansion.”
Sadiq added to “Sky News Arabia”: “If TikTok was affiliated with any other European country, the US authorities would not have sought to ban it in this way. There is a great exaggeration in talking about the platform targeting US national security, especially in light of security measures in the United States that monitor this. It is strictly forbidden.”
The spokesman stressed that “the United States has previously implemented this approach with the Chinese company Huawei, and despite the importance of the American market for all companies, China has opened for itself other large markets outside the United States.”
A surge in the number of users
Ahmed Sabry, head of the Digital Media Division of the Information Technology Industry Exchange in Cairo, agreed, who explained that the “Tik Tok” application is one of the weapons in the economic battle between the United States and China.
In his interview with “Sky News Arabia”, Sabri demonstrated his point of view by saying:
• This is not the first approach of Congressmen, as it was preceded by the Higher Communications Regulatory Committee, which issued a decision two months ago to ban the application from the “Apple Store” and “Google Play”.
• There is a focus on “Tik Tok” as a result of the increase in the number of its users, and ban decisions accusing it of espionage and of being a “wolf in the form of a lamb.”
• “Tik Tok” is the largest social network that is witnessing a boom in the number of users. In 2021, their number was 600 million, while in 2022 it reached 1.1 billion users around the world.
• It is expected that other countries will follow the example of the United States, if they ban “Tik Tok”.
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