11-7-2023 (WASHINGTON) The US Senate is considering amendments to a Bill that would give the Biden administration new powers to ban Chinese-owned TikTok, according to Democratic Senator Mark Warner, who has cosponsored the legislation. The senator said changes are being considered to address concerns raised about the legislation, such as the potential impact on individual Americans or the broad expansion of government power.
Introduced in March, the Bill would grant the Commerce Department new authority to review, block, and address a range of transactions involving foreign information and communications technology that pose national security risks.
Warner acknowledged that aggressive lobbying by TikTok had slowed the Bill’s momentum. The ByteDance-owned short video app had spent $100m on lobbying efforts against the legislation. The senator said there were a lot of conversations about the Bill and it could be attached to an annual defence Bill or could be part of a China-related Bill that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer wants.
The Biden administration in March demanded TikTok’s Chinese owners divest their stakes or face a US ban. Attempts in 2020 by then President Donald Trump to ban TikTok were blocked by US courts. TikTok, which is used by more than 150 million Americans, says it has spent more than $1.5bn on rigorous data security efforts and rejects spying allegations. The company is fighting a ban by the state of Montana set to take effect on Jan 1. A judge has scheduled an October 12 hearing on TikTok’s request.
