US senators from both parties teaming up against Tiktok

WASHINGTON (Nexstar)– Senators from both parties are teaming up against Tiktok.

South Dakota republican John Thune says the Chinese-owned social media app won’t be the last similar threat to our national security.

On Tuesday, Thune and Virginia democrat Mark Warner introduced the “Restrict act,” which would give the president and the secretary of commerce, the authority to prohibit any foreign technology posing a security risk.

Warner said that includes software, hardware and social media platforms.

It’s genuinely risk-based.

The senators say their bill is different from the one house republicans introduced last week, because it doesn’t single out Tiktok. Opponents of that bill argued it would violate the First Amendment.

The idea of having a rules-based process that identifies types of technologies, we think will stand up better in court, one senator said.

This is trying to stop a foreign adversary from spying on Americans private lives, but Missouri republican Josh Hawley says targeting Tiktok is exactly what Congress should do.

“Tiktok, we know, is a backdoor for Beijing. So let’s just ban it outright,” Hawley said.

The White House supports the bipartisan bill and is urging Congress to act quickly and send it to the president’s desk.