The US-China tech war has been raging for some time now, and one of the main battlegrounds has been the short-video app TikTok. Calls for a ban on the popular app have been growing louder, with a new report from the Wall Street Journal suggesting that the Biden administration and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US are demanding that TikTok’s Chinese owners sell stakes in the app as a condition for operating in the US. This move is aimed at increasing US ownership of the app and mitigating national security risks.
However, the attacks on TikTok are not just aimed at Chinese companies, and it is feared that policy proposals could result in a ban on a wide range of foreign-owned tech companies, including fast-growing e-commerce apps such as Shein and Temu. The bills proposed in Congress could even affect some American companies with business functions in China. Jenna Leventoff, a senior policy counsel at the ACLU who co-authored a letter opposing Michael McCaul’s DATA Act, has stated that “this could apply to other large companies, like possibly Apple.
Apple has a lot of its technology made in China. The President or future administration could block Americans from doing business or using apps from a number of entities in China.” This would have significant implications for both American and Chinese companies and could further escalate tensions between the two countries.
TikTok has become the center of anti-China rhetoric because of its popularity among young people and the fear that China could wield its influence on the next generation of Americans. There are also concerns that TikTok’s Beijing-based parent ByteDance could be compelled to give the Chinese Communist Party access to US user data via its National Intelligence Law.
However, experts suggest that an alternative path for lawmakers looking to protect Americans from foreign-owned apps would be to enact stricter data privacy laws for all companies operating in the US. This would have the advantage of ensuring that all companies, regardless of their country of origin, are held to the same high standards when it comes to protecting user data.
While a TikTok ban could have serious consequences for the companies caught up in the ongoing competition between the US and China, there are fears that stronger data privacy laws could face pushback from Big Tech. “It’s a national embarrassment that we don’t have a basic data privacy law in the United States,” said Evan Greer, director at the tech activism organization Fight For The Future. “Every day that lawmakers waste hand wringing about TikTok is another day that we don’t have a national privacy law in the United States.”
This is an important point, as it highlights the broader issue of data privacy and the need for comprehensive legislation to protect users’ data. While the focus is currently on TikTok and other Chinese-owned apps, the problem of data privacy is not limited to these companies. All tech companies, regardless of their country of origin, must be held to high standards when it comes to protecting user data.
As the US and China continue to fight their tech war, the outcome remains to be seen. However, the proposed bills in Congress could have serious implications for companies caught up in the competition, and it remains to be seen whether stronger data privacy laws or bans on specific apps will be enacted.
The situation is complicated by the fact that tech companies operate in a global market, and any policy proposals must take into account the wider implications for the tech industry and the global economy. It is clear, however, that the issue of data privacy must be addressed, and lawmakers must work together to find a solution that protects users’ data while also ensuring that tech companies can operate in a fair and competitive environment.