US bid to ban TikTok hinges on Biden administration enacting a new law that bolsters government’s authority to regulate speech
- Any move to ban TikTok in the US depends on the passage of a new law that strengthens the US government’s authority to regulate speech, experts said
- The RESTRICT Act grants the US Commerce Department new power to ban foreign technology that would circumvent free speech protections in existing law
Courts blocked a prior bid by the Trump administration to ban the app, in part on the grounds that such a move violated free speech protections.
That means any move to block the app likely depends on passage of legislation like the bipartisan bill known as the RESTRICT Act – standing for “Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology” – which was introduced by US Senators this month to grant the Commerce Department new power to ban foreign technology that poses a national security risk. That would circumvent the speech protections embedded in existing law, lawyers and China watchers said.
02:41
US orders TikTok be removed from all government devices within 30 days
“RESTRICT is really helpful because it gives this completely new, from scratch, legal authority that doesn’t have any of those complications” under other laws, said Emily Kilcrease, a senior fellow at the Centre for a New American Security and a former deputy assistant US Trade Representative. “It’s a much stronger, cleaner legal authority.”
TikTok previously criticised the RESTRICT act, saying “the Biden Administration does not need additional authority from Congress to address national security concerns about TikTok: it can approve the deal negotiated with (the Biden administration) over two years that it has spent the last six months reviewing”.