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Today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved bipartisan legislation Congressman Bob Latta (R-OH5) is co-leading with 17 other members, including Reps. Dunn (R-FL2), Castor (D-FL14), and Cammack (R-FL3) of the Energy and Commerce Committee called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The vote was 50-0.

Latta’s bill prevents app store availability or web hosting services in the U.S. for ByteDance-controlled applications, including TikTok, unless the application severs ties to entities that are subject to the control of a foreign adversary.

“The American people should be aware that the bill we passed today in the Energy and Commerce Committee provides TikTok with the opportunity to remain active in the United States if they divest from the Chinese Communist Party – it’s that simple,” Latta said. “Let me make this clear: this bill is not a ban on TikTok. This is about preventing the Chinese Communist Party from surveilling, targeting, manipulating, and stealing the private information of Americans. With this bill, TikTok has a choice: they can either sever ties with Communist China to keep their app active or they will end up shutting themselves down in the United States. I’m proud to help lead this bipartisan legislation to keep Americans safe from foreign adversaries like Communist China, and I look forward to this bill being brought to a vote before the U.S. House of Representatives.” 

Background:

Applications like TikTok that are controlled by foreign adversaries pose an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security. Such apps allow our adversaries to surveil and influence the American public, both through the data we produce and the information we share and consume.

This legislation addresses the threat in two ways. First, it prevents app store availability or web hosting services in the U.S. for ByteDance-controlled applications, including TikTok, unless the application severs ties to entities like ByteDance that are subject to the control of a foreign adversary, as defined by Congress in Title 10.

The bill provides ByteDance with a window of time to divest, and the bill’s prohibitions do not apply if it completes a qualified divestment. It also creates a process for the President to designate certain, specifically defined social media applications that are subject to the control of a foreign adversary—per Title 10—and pose a national security risk. Designated applications will face a prohibition on app store availability and web hosting services in the U.S. unless they sever ties to entities subject to the control of a foreign adversary through divestment.

This bill addresses the immediate national security risks posed by TikTok and creates a process for the President to protect Americans’ national security and privacy from foreign adversary-controlled applications in the future.

What the bill does:

• Incentivize Divestment of TikTok: Unless TikTok is fully divested such that it is no longer controlled by a PRC-based entity, the application will face a prohibition in the U.S. from app store availability and web hosting services until such time as a divestment occurs.
• Address the National Security Risks Posed by Other Applications Controlled by Foreign Adversary Companies: Establishes a process for the President to designate other foreign adversary controlled social media applications—as defined by statute—that shall face a prohibition on app store availability and access to web hosting services in the United States unless they sever ties to the foreign adversary-controlled company. The President may exercise this authority if an application presents a national security threat, has over one million annual active users, and is under the control of a foreign adversary entity, as defined by statute.
• Empower Users to Switch Platforms: Designated applications must provide users with a copy of their data in a format that can be imported into an alternative social media application. All users would be able to download their data and content and transition to another platform.

What the bill does not do:

• Punish Individual Social Media Users: No enforcement action can be taken against individual users of an impacted app.
• Censor Speech: This legislation does not regulate speech. It is focused entirely on foreign adversary control—not the content of speech being shared. This bill only applies to specifically defined social media apps subject to the control of foreign adversaries, as defined by Congress.
• Impact Apps That Sever Ties to Foreign Adversary-Controlled Entities: An app, including TikTok, that severs ties with entities subject to the control of a foreign adversary is not impacted by any other provision of the bill.

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