The United States Introduces Bill to Protect American Citizens' Data from the TikTok Application

Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Ron Wyden, who is from the Democratic Party. (photo: twitter @RonWyden)

JAKARTA - A bipartisan group of six senators and two members of the US House of Representatives introduced legislation on Wednesday, June 14 to protect the data of US citizens from being used by US enemies.

The law is the latest proposal to address concerns about the use of American citizens' data by foreign-owned social media apps like TikTok.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, who is a Democrat, said the law "would cut off the flow of data to hostile countries, stop TikTok from transferring American citizens' personal information to China, and allow other countries to who have strong privacy protections to strengthen their relationship."

Many members of the US House of Representatives have argued that China-owned TikTok poses a serious security risk to Americans' data, and have warned about China's potential influence over the platform used by more than 150 million Americans. TikTok denies any improper use of data and claims to have spent more than USD 1.5 billion (IDR 22.3 trillion) on data security measures.

This law would direct the Department of Commerce to identify categories of personal data that could compromise US national security and create a list of high-risk countries to which the export of sensitive data would be blocked.

The law would also regulate the export of personal data by data intermediaries and companies such as TikTok directly to limited foreign governments. Export control sanctions will be applied to senior executives who know or should know that employees are being directed to illegally export American citizens' personal data.

In March, a committee in the US House of Representatives gave Democratic President Joe Biden powers to ban Chinese-owned TikTok, but the proposal has not gone ahead.

Last month, TikTok filed a lawsuit to end a planned ban by Montana, the first US state to ban the popular short video sharing service.

Warner said the possibility of a court overturning the Montana ban makes it necessary for Congress to pass a law that gives the president new powers to ban or impose restrictions on TikTok and other foreign apps.