THE WHITE HOUSE — Time may be running out in the United States for Chinese-owned entertainment platform TikTok, after the White House on Thursday proposed legislation to ban the app over fears over the security of the data of some 100 million users. people who use it. Presidential spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said it’s all about standing up for “the security of Americans … privacy,” as President Joe Biden has said repeatedly over the past two years. “We are asking Congress to act … to move forward that bipartisan RESTRICT Act legislation … and we will continue to do so,” Jean-Pierre said. Asked if the administration has any concrete proof that the platform has used data maliciously, the spokeswoman cited an ongoing study by the Commission for Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and said the White House was not going to get ahead of itself. to your process. CFIUS is an interagency panel that reviews certain foreign investment transactions and national security concerns. Also on Thursday, the United Kingdom banned the use of the app on government devices, a move already taken by the United States, the European Union, Canada and India. In the US, other entities, such as universities, have also prohibited the use of TikTok on their networks. Earlier this week, TikTok’s management told the US press that the Biden administration sued for the sale of the company, saying in a statement that “a change of ownership would not result in any new restrictions or access to the flow of data.” In recent weeks, the company has been promoting a $1.5 billion plan called “Project Texas,” referring to the Texas software firm it has partnered with to erect a firewall between users. from the US and the owners in Beijing. TikTok is a social network owned by ByteDance, in China, for sharing short videos in vertical format about dances, cooking recipes and other popular topics. Critics say the platform’s close ties to the Chinese government make it a ‘Trojan horse’ (malicious software) that allows entry into users’ devices to access their data and information. In early March, a bipartisan group of US senators introduced the RESTRICT Act, whose name is an acronym for “restricting the emergence of security threats that endanger information and communications technology.” “Over the past several years, foreign adversaries of the US have invaded US markets through technology products that steal sensitive locations and identify citizen information, including social media platforms like TikTok,” said Democratic Senator Joe Manchin. Manchin stated that “this dangerous new internet infrastructure poses serious dangers to our economy and national security.” Another Democratic senator, Mark Warner, one of the bill’s sponsors, is calling for “comprehensive action” to intercept potentially dangerous technologies “before they take root in the US, so we don’t have to deal with a recurring problem without a solution and try to recover ground when they are everywhere”. This is not the first time that the White House has come up against TikTok. The Trump administration also sought a change in ownership of the company. In 2020, CFIUS unanimously recommended that ByteDance sell the platform. The company then tried to make a deal with Walmart, the largest US retailer, and Texas-based Oracle Corp. to divert the assets to a new entity. However, analysts are divided on the next steps. “A forced sale is the right thing to do,” said Lindsay Gorman of the Alliance to Secure Democracy and the German Marshall Fund of the United States. “The app gives a name and a face to China’s state surveillance export around the world, but there is now bipartisan consensus that TikTok is a national security threat to US democracy. The technological threat from China, exemplified by TikTok, is perhaps the only thing Congress currently agrees on,” Gorman said. Caitlin Chin, of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategy and International Studies, says stopping TikTok won’t solve the larger issue of apps misusing data. “Congress should establish comprehensive rules for the entire data ecosystem that limit all companies, including TikTok, from using personal information in ways that could amplify the spread of harmful content,” she said. Connect with the ! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and activate notifications, or follow us on social networks: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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