The Biden administration has come under pressure to outlaw the well-known social media app TikTok, which is owned by China. However, any such action will likely depend on the passing of a new law that strengthens the government’s ability to control speech, according to analysts.
TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, is under increasing pressure from politicians and national security hawks to be outlawed due to concerns that the app may censor content, sway users, and provide Beijing access to Americans’ personal information, all of which the business disputes.
A previous attempt by the Trump administration to outlaw the app was unsuccessful, in part because courts ruled that doing so would violate free speech rights.
“RESTRICT is really helpful because it gives this completely new, from scratch, legal authority that doesnt have any of those complications” under other laws, said Emily Kilcrease, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and former deputy assistant U.S. Trade Representative. “Its a much stronger, cleaner legal authority.”
TikTok earlier criticized the RESTRICT act, stating “the Biden Administration does not need additional authority from Congress to address national security concerns about TikTok: it can approve the deal negotiated with (the Biden administration) over two years that it has spent the last six months reviewing.”
The RESTRICT Act was endorsed by Jake Sullivan, national security adviser at the White House earlier on March 7.
Using the new legal options to outlaw TikTok, according to some experts, may still face First Amendment issues.
“Realistically, I don’t see this tool coming into play until 2024,” averred CFIUS lawyer Nicholas Klein with DLA Piper. “And there will most likely be a legal challenge if its used to ban TikTok.”
