US: Legislation authorising Joe Biden to ban TikTok advances

The United States House Foreign Affairs Committee voted on Wednesday (March 1) to advance legislation that would authorise the president to impose a ban on the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, among other apps that pose threatto national security.

The US aims at imposing a nationwide TikTok ban under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the legislation for the same was introduced last Friday. It was fast-tracked by committee chairman Michael McCaul, however, the Democrats on the committee opposed the bill.

US media outlets reported that the lawmakers voted 24 to 16 to approve the measure. Once finalised, the Biden administration will have powers to ban the ByteDance-owned app, which is used by more than 100 million Americans.

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As quoted by the news agency Reuters, Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the committee, said that he strongly opposed the legislation because it would "damage our allegiances across the globe, bring more companies into China's sphere, destroy jobs here in the United States and undercut core American values of free speech and free enterprise."

The bill has specifically asked the president to impose penalties against the companies (potentially a ban), if the administration discovers that the company might have intentionally transferred user data of the video-sharing app to "any foreign person" who is associated with the Chinese government.

The next process includes approval by the full House and US Senate before it can go to Biden as the fate of the measure is still uncertain.

WATCH |EU bans TikTok on work devices amid data security breaches

The European Commission and the European Union (EU) Council last week banned TikTok from staff phones due to growing concerns about the company and whether or not the Chinese government could harvest users' data or advance its interests.

China’s foreign ministry on Wednesday called on the EU to stop abusing the concept of national security after the European Parliament banned TikTok from staff phones.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a regular briefing in Beijing: "Such practices undermine the international community's confidence in the EU's business environment. The European side should... stop overstretching and abusing the concept of national security."

Turkey finesTikTok

The Personal Data Protection Board (KVKK) said on Wednesday that the Turkish authorities have fined TikTok $93,000 for failing to protect users from unlawful processing of their data.

The fine comes amid growing international concern over the Chinese short video-sharing app and who accesses its user data.

The KVKK said it decided to fine TikTok for "not taking all necessary measures to ensure the appropriate level of security to prevent unlawful processing of personal data."

It further said that TikTok should translate its Terms of Service into Turkish and update its privacy and cookies policy texts in line with the country's regulations.

Turkey with some 30 million accounts on TikTok has the ninth most users of the platform in the world.

(With inputs from agencies)

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