After India, Will Tiktok Ban In America?

A new bill has been introduced by a U.S. senators’ bipartisan group and this bill seeks to give the federal government broad powers to regulate and even ban foreign-made technology, including TikTok. 

So The Big Question Looming Is – Tiktok Ban In USA?

The Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats, the Risk Information and Communications Technology Act or RESTRICT Act, would allow the secretary of commerce to regulate tech produced by six countries that have adversarial relationships with the U.S., namely China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela. This could result in a TikTok ban in America!

The RESTRICT Act is a bipartisan bill proposed in the U.S. Congress, that aims to restrict the ability of Chinese nationals to obtain visas to work in sensitive technology fields in the U.S. The bill would require the U.S. government to establish a list of “countries of concern” that have engaged in economic espionage or intellectual property theft. 

Chinese Nationals 

Seeking visas to work in certain technology fields, including AI and robotics, would face additional scrutiny and may be denied visas altogether.

Although the RESTRICT Act does not mention TikTok by name, the senators behind the bill cited concerns that the popular social video app owned by Chinese company ByteDance ,is a threat to U.S. national security. Thus we could soon be seeing a TikTok ban in US.

Sen. John Thune

Said at a news conference, that it is widely acknowledged that TikTok is a threat to national security and he is particularly concerned about its connections to the Chinese Communist Party, which he says repeatedly spies on American citizens.

The RESTRICT Act is seen as part of a broader effort to address concerns about Chinese influence in the U.S. tech industry and national security threats posed by Chinese companies like Huawei and TikTok. And thus have a TikTok ban in America!

However, some critics have argued that the bill could harm U.S. competitiveness by limiting access to talent and expertise from around the world.

US Ban On Tiktok Anytime Now?

TikTok has been negotiating a deal with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), for six months. 

A spokesperson for TikTok said that the Biden administration already has the power to oversee the app through CFIUS and a blanket ban would be counterproductive for U.S. interests. 

The RESTRICT Act 

Would not only affect TikTok, but also give the federal government the power to pre-empt situations in which technology produced in any of the six authoritarian countries named in the bill, becomes popular in the U.S. Is this leading to America to ban TikTok?The United States government has expressed concerns about the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok. The primary concern is that TikTok may be sharing user data with the Chinese government. On Tuesday, the RESTRICT Act was endorsed by the White House. So, will we be seeing a TikTok ban in America?