US House Committee Advances Bill to Give President Power to Ban TikTok and Other Chinese Apps

The Foreign Affairs Committee advanced the fast-tracked legislation with a party-line vote.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee has approved the DATA Act, a piece of legislation that would give President Joe Biden the power to ban TikTok and other Chinese-owned apps in the US. 

The bill needs to go through several more steps before it becomes law, including passing through the full House and Senate and being signed by the president. The legislation would allow the president to impose sanctions, including bans, on companies that "knowingly provide or may transfer sensitive personal data of persons subject to United States jurisdiction to any foreign person that is subject to the jurisdiction or direction of China." 

The bill is controversial, with Democrats on the committee claiming that it is too broad and would damage US allegiances across the globe. Meanwhile, TikTok has criticized the bill, claiming that a US ban on the app would be a ban on the export of American culture and values to the billion-plus people who use the service worldwide. 

The company's CEO is set to testify before the Energy and Commerce Committee on March 23rd to discuss privacy and TikTok's influence on children and its links to China.