On March 7, a group of senators introduced a bipartisan bill allowing the US president to impose a ban on Chinese company ByteDance’s TikTok social network in the country. Last week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a similar bill.
Earlier, the White House gave US government agencies 30 days to completely remove the TikTok app from all computers and phones used by government officials. The new rules will only affect work equipment.
More than 20 US states, Canada, as well as EU political structures have also banned downloading of TikTok on government devices.
US officials say TikTok could pose a national security threat.
“We have made our concerns about TikTok and apps like TikTok very clear. We express our concern that a number of countries, including China, as they seek to use American digital technology and data to harm and pose a risk to our national security is evident,” he said. said Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary.
One of the main problems in the United States is the collection of users’ personal data, which Beijing can use to its advantage.
“Data about a particular user, even as simple as data about their location, can be used to collect any information and can serve as a means to access not only personal information, but also information from organizations that make part of the country’s critical infrastructure,” says Institute for Information Security Director at Johns Hopkins University Anton Debura. – The definition of critical infrastructure is very different from what most people think of it. It includes not only military installations and nuclear power plants, but also banks, financial institutions, food processing companies, biotechnology companies, educational institutions and many other organizations where confidential information may be obtained. that by knowing which places you visit, enemies may be interested in v ou. For example, you work for a large financial institution that they would like to infiltrate. And in this way, they can use phishing attacks via email or SMS to infiltrate your mobile devices or other gadgets.
However, not everyone in the US is excited about the prospect of a TikTok ban. In particular, the human rights organization American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote an open letter to Congress urging not to block the work of the social network in the country. ACLU Senior Policy Advisor Jenna Leventoff said the bill violates Americans’ right to free speech.
“This bill, introduced by Rep. McCall, would functionally ban TikTok for the more than 100 million Americans who regularly use the app to express themselves freely, campaign politically, express themselves artistically, read the news – from things that are protected by the First Amendment. And our organization cannot sit idly by because we believe this law violates the First Amendment. This undermines the freedom of expression of people across the country,” Leventoff said.
Additionally, blocking TikTok is likely to be classified by the courts as a violation of the US Constitution, says Anupam Chandr, a law professor at Georgetown University who specializes in technology issues:
“It begs the question, ‘Does the US government have the constitutional power to ban online publishers?’ TikTok publishes a lot of information. It’s a question of power on the platforms on which we express our opinions. This is different from government control over other technologies – equipment, drones, etc. I suspect the courts will be quite skeptical of such a ban. However, this is a difficult question. Because the courts will no doubt also take into account the threat to national security. But, on the other hand, it is a serious attack on freedom of expression. The government has yet to prove that China collects data based on this app or that the Chinese government sends propaganda through TikTok. However, the noise around the ban could be useful in getting Bytedance to sell TikTok to a US company. And that’s probably what the politicians are hoping for.”
TikTok is far from the only platform that collects user data. According to experts, an audit of these platforms is necessary, as well as the implementation of appropriate security measures and checks and balances.
