Cantwell Weighs Commerce Hearing on Bipartisan TikTok Bill

The Senate Commerce Committee is considering a hearing on a bill from Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and John Thune, R-S.D., that would open the door to a TikTok ban in the U.S., Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Wednesday. Warner and Thune introduced the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology (Restrict) Act (S-686), a bill with more than 20 sponsors that would allow the Commerce Department to effectively ban apps like TikTok over national security concerns (see 2303170043).

“Empowering” the Commerce Department to have “oversight in this area” is “generally the right direction,” said Cantwell. The committee will “look at the details. We may schedule a hearing,” she said, noting she has been working with ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on the topic. It’s unclear whether the bill would be paired with other pieces of legislation, but “probably separately,” she said. It’s important to look at data privacy “overall,” not just threats from the Chinese but also U.S. companies, she said: “I don’t know yet whether we would do it separately.”

Asked if the app should be banned or sold by Chinese parent company ByteDance, Cantwell said she’s “not going to comment on that part.” Some of the proposals to deal with TikTok are “very easy to get around,” she said: Legislators need to discuss and identify something that “actually works instead of throwing stuff out there.”

Cruz told us he asked Cantwell to host a hearing or multiple hearings on TikTok and to invite CEO Shou Zi Chew to testify. Chew testified before the House Commerce Committee last week about Project Texas, the company's data security plan (see 2303230064). “I have lots of thoughts on the bill, but as an initial matter” Chew should testify, he said.

"The whole point of the organizational design of Project Texas is that no one will have to take our word for it," the company said in a statement Wednesday. "There will be multiple layers of outside, independent review to ensure that protected U.S. user data and systems are, in fact, out of reach of any foreign government."

Warner told us his staff is in discussions with Cantwell’s team, and he was hoping to catch up with her Wednesday. He said he would be “very appreciative of movement” before the Commerce Committee. House Republicans and Democrats are “cued up” to support the proposal and are working through introduction of a companion bill, he said. An aide for Warner noted they expect to reach at least 26 sponsors in the Senate. There are officially 21 sponsors listed.

“I’m hoping” for consensus to bring it up before Commerce, Thune told us. “We’ve been having conversations with Sen. Cantwell about that, and she seems favorable but nothing scheduled. No guarantees yet.”

Warner said it’s promising that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., signaled last week that the House wants to move forward with a TikTok ban. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr drew attention Tuesday to comments from Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly, who told the House Appropriations Committee she would support a TikTok ban in the U.S. but has doubts about implementing a ban.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., agreed TikTok should be banned or sold, but he hasn’t settled on a specific proposal: “The Chinese shouldn’t have unlimited access to our citizens’ data.” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., told us he supports a forced sale or ban: Banning the app “doesn’t cost America anything, and it’s something that will protect our security.”

Chew told the House Commerce Committee that TikTok is building a firewall between ByteDance and user data, effectively sealing off Beijing’s access. “I don’t believe” Chew, “plus it’s toxic to our kids,” said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. Confirming the effectiveness of a firewall would require “a lot of transparency,” and “I don’t know” if Chew is using the term transparent “in the same way I would use it,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. “The words alone are not enough to assure me. I don’t trust anything that even has a loose relationship with the CCP.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told us a firewall is “futile as long as [TikTok’s] ownership structure and the business model are the same.” If “somebody has a better solution” than a ban or forced sale, “I’m all ears, but right now those are the most viable, productive ones on the table,” said Blumenthal. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, also doubted Chew’s claim about a firewall: “I’m for eliminating” the app.