Blumenthal Interested in Total TikTok Ban in U.S.

Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., last week told us he’s in favor of Congress considering banning TikTok across the U.S., a concept that’s gaining bipartisan interest after Congress banned the app on federal devices.

“I’m in favor of considering taking it a step further,” said Blumenthal. “I’m looking at” legislation from Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., and Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., seeking a total ban of the app. Rubio in a separate interview echoed remarks from Gallagher (see 2212200074) about reintroducing the bill in 2023. Blumenthal said there are heightened privacy concerns surrounding TikTok, as well as safety concerns for children, including the impacts of TikTok challenges that have resulted in deaths of young users.

“I don’t use TikTok,” said Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M. “I think there’s a lot of questions surrounding it, and there’s been from the very beginning, so I do support” the ban for federal devices. Asked about a ban across the U.S., Lujan said, “I discourage people from using TikTok. I’m concerned with what I’ve learned about it and all the rest. I think there’s a reason why states and now the Congress are taking action.” Several governors have banned the app on state devices. TikTok didn't comment.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told NPR’s Morning Edition last week that he supports banning the app across the U.S., calling it a “sophisticated surveillance technology” that’s often trivialized as a fun social media app. Asked about a lack of FCC jurisdiction, Carr noted the agency has a lot of experience with “nefarious data flows” in its dealings with Huawei, ZTE and China Mobile. He noted the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which is handling the pending national security agreement with the company, has drawn bipartisan interest. He cited continued concerns from Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner, D-Va. “I don’t see a path forward where we can allow this app to continue to operate in its current form,” said Carr, citing reports about internal data surveillance practices at the company contrary to TikTok’s public comments. He supports a “total ban or some sort of action like that that’s going to completely sever the corporate links back into Beijing.”

“I’m having some discussions with Senator Rubio,” Warner told us: The bigger picture will involve a “legislative approach.” The Biden administration has had “more than a year,” and there’s still no concrete plan for addressing the national security issues, he said. Warner credited Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., for securing passage of his No TikTok on Government Devices Act (S-3455) (see 2212150040) in the omnibus spending package. “I give Sen. Hawley credit for getting it through, but we’ve had this growing concern,” he said. “The thing that I think has been missing in the stories is I’ve got the concern about data, but I’ve also got the concern, almost of greater concern, about the content manipulation. Those algorithms, that’s where the secret sauce lies.”

Hawley told us he hopes his legislation sends the message to the Biden administration that officials need to require parent company ByteDance to divest TikTok and put up a firewall. “If they don’t do that, and there’s no firewall between TikTok USA and Beijing, I think there’s going to be a lot of pressure for a ban of some kind,” said Hawley. “If it’s not divestment, it better be some kind of impenetrable firewall. I guess I could be convinced, but I’m skeptical. Let’s see.”

Warner “shares my concerns,” Rubio told us. He said he hasn’t had a chance to discuss the agenda for the new year with Warner, but “I’m sure it will be a matter of focus.”

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us she supported the ban on federal devices because it was a “narrow” provision. She said she doesn’t know yet whether she would support a ban across the U.S. Legislation dealing with data brokers needs to be part of the equation, said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. He introduced a bill with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., (see 2104210053). Banning TikTok doesn’t solve the problem, said Wyden: Nefarious data flows will simply shift and continue with data brokers providing access to hostile powers like China, he said: “Don’t miss the forest for the trees.”