U.S. lawmakers introduce new law to protect TikTok users

A bipartisan group of six senators and two members of the House of Representatives introduced legislation on Wednesday to protect American users’ data from being used by U.S. adversaries.

The bill is one of several proposals aimed at addressing concerns about the usage of American users’ data by foreign-owned social media apps like TikTok.

“The bill would turn off the tap of data to unfriendly nations, stop TikTok from sending Americans’ personal information to China, and allow nations with strong privacy protections to strengthen their relationships,” said Ron Wyden, Senate Finance Committee Chairman.

US lawmakers have accused the Chinese-owned TikTok of posing security threats to the data of Americans, sounding the alarm about potential influence by the Chinese government over the platform. TikTok has denied any use of users’ data, saying that it has spent $1.5 billion on data security measures.

“TikTok is well underway in cutting off access to protected U.S. user data to any employee, wherever they are, only employees from its U.S.-based subsidiary tasked with protecting U.S. national security interests will have access,” the company added.

The bill is set to direct the Commerce Department to identify categories of personal data that could harm US national security and create a list of high-risk countries where sensitive data exports would be blocked.

The bill would also regulate exports of personal data by data brokers and firms like TikTok to restricted foreign governments, and apply export control penalties to senior executives who knew that employees were illegally exporting American’s personal data.

TikTok has sued to block a ban by Montana, which would be the first U.S. state to bar the video sharing platform. U.S. House committee have voted to give President Joe Biden the power to ban TikTok, but the bill has not moved forward.