TikTok’s Time Running Out

Potential bans on TikTok and what they could look like

by Sydney Slaton editor-in-chief

Last month, Montana passed a bill banning the popular social media application TikTok due to concerns that its parent company ByteDance could give China American user’s data. This is becoming an issue worldwide as well, with nine countries -- including the U.S. -opting to also ban the application.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte has yet to say if he will sign the bill into law, but if he does Montana will become the first state to pass such a bill. A statement provided to The Associated Press by spokesperson Brooke Metrione says the governor “will carefully consider” this piece of legislature. If this bill passes, it will be illegal to download TikTok and any application stores allowing any downloads of the application will be fined $10,000 dollars per infraction. This could upset many Montana citizens, as there are many content creators there along with many users. TikTok spokesperson Brooke Obberwetter promises legal action if the bill becomes a law.

“[TikTok] will continue to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and First Amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government overreach,” Oberwetter said in an interview with The Associated Press.

From what legislatures are saying, the main concern with TikTok is the possibility that the Chinese government could get access to user data through a 2017 law that encourages companies to cooperate with the Chinese government regarding national security. Misuse of data has happened in ByteDance before, this December they had to fire four employees for accessing the IP addresses of journalists trying to look into a separate leak in the company.

The data lawmakers are worried about getting in the hands of the Chinese government isn’t just what you watch either. To create an account user’s have to share information such as: user’s device’s IP address; user’s location; cookies -- a way for websites to store information in web browsers to retrieve next time users visit; and your devices metadata. And TikTok has access to more than that, they know any profile information entered, any content uploaded, direct messages and any information used to purchase things through the application -- that includes card information.

However, officials at TikTok say they are working to address these concerns by partnering with an American company, Oracle for Protect Texas. This project means user data will be stored on U.S. soil and taken care of by an independent agency, TikTok U.S. Data Security, also monitored by a third party.

“The basic approach that we’re following is to make it physically impossible for any government, including the Chinese government, to get access to U.S. user data,” general counsel Erich Andersen said in an interview with The Associated Press.

TikTok released a statement that outlines all the ways the company has tried to reach out to the Biden administration. The company maintains they have tried multiple times to engage with the government on this issue, but the administration wasn’t willing to help.

“What we encountered instead was that the administration paid no attention to facts, dictated terms of an agreement without going through standard legal processes, and tried to insert itself into negotiations between private businesses,” TikTok’s statement said.

TikTok isn’t alone in thinking these bills are rushed, lawmakers have their concerns as well. One of the bills needed to ban TikTok, the Deterring America’s

Technological Adversaries Act (DATA), has just been passed through committee and is up for approval for debate on the House floor and many democratic representatives, like Rhode Island Democratic Rep. David Cicilline said to CNBC, are confused why “we are being asked to sort of jam this through.” They are hoping for more consideration on this bill.

“[There is] broad and maybe universal support on this committee to do exactly what this bill attempts to do. But it’s incredibly important that it be done right, and that it be done well,” Ciclline said to CNBC.

There are two bills being presented to Congress right now, the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act (RESTRICT) and the DATA Act. If passed, these bills would get rid of the legal barriers president Trump encountered in 2020 when he tried to ban TikTok.

These bills may be unnecessary as the government already has oversight of the application through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CIFUS. This committee is run under the U.S. Treasury Department and is able to review foreign transactions. In fact, TikTok has made a deal with CIFUS and the administration has been reviewing it for six months.

As of now, it is unclear what Congress’s decision will be or if the bills will even make it to them. What we do know is that zvcv is trying to come to an agreement with the different government agencies involved with the potential ban.