U.S. Senate bill proposes TikTok ban, VCU considers similar restrictions

Selna Shi, News Editor

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, and Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, introduced Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communication Technology, or RESTRICT Act, to ban foreign-owned mobile applications. 

The RESTRICT Act states foreign information and communication technology, or ICT, poses threats to privacy and security of Americans and businesses. The bill is co-sponsored by 12 senators from Democrat and Republican parties. 

The two-page summary of the bill mainly targets TikTok, a short-video mobile application which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, and other Chinese-owned mobile applications like WeChat and Alipay. 

ICT products made by Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela are also mentioned to be banned or restricted, according to the bill. If passed, the bill would allow the Secretary of Commerce to review foreign technology products. 

“We need a comprehensive risk-based approach that proactively tackles sources of potentially dangerous technology before they gain a foothold in America, so we aren’t playing whac-a-mole and scrambling to catch up once they’re already ubiquitous,” Warner stated in a press release. 

The Biden administration endorsed the bill two weeks ago, according to CNBC. 

Former President Donald Trump signed an executive order in August 2020 that is similar to the bipartisan bill, addressing the security threat posed by TikTok and alluding power to the secretary of commerce as well. 

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin banned both TikTok and Tencent’s mobile application, WeChat, on Virginia state devices and networks last month citing “national security threat” as a reason in Executive Order 24, according to Youngkin’s press release. 

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has joined 43 other attorney generals to investigate TikTok’s effects on children, according to the press release. 

Over 20 other states have also banned TikTok and other Chinese mobile applications on government devices, according to Business Insider. South Dakota was the first state to do so on Dec. 1, 2022, according to Yahoo News.

Several universities have followed suit with their states and banned TikTok on university wifi networks, according to NBC. No universities in Virginia have imposed restrictions on the platform. However, Brian McNeill, interim director of VCU public affairs, said VCU is considering restrictions. 

“VCU is aware of the concerns about use of TikTok and is considering specific restrictions of access to TikTok on university equipment,” McNeill said. 

Sarah Haworth, executive director of The Tech Oversight Project, stated that TikTok is a “threat,” and they’re “not the only Big Tech giant to blame.”

Meta was fined $400 million by the European Union in January for targeting users with personalized advertisements, according to PBS. 

An Amsterdam court in the Netherlands ruled last week that Meta unlawfully handled personal data of Dutch users also due to personalized ads, according to Bloomberg. 

“Following the success of TikTok, many of these platforms redesigned their platforms and algorithms to perform like TikTok,” Haworth stated.

Meta and Google have both rolled out new platforms like Youtube Shorts and Instagram Reels that resemble short-form videos on TikTok. 

The Chinese government was a major purchaser of Facebook ads and Google has developed a censored version of the platform for the Chinese market, according to Haworth’s statement. 

More than half of Amazon’s sellers were based in China by the end of 2020, according to the statement.

Ying Lu, VCU senior information systems student, said the U.S. government fears TikTok pushing certain narratives on the platform.

“That [pushing narratives] is something American apps already currently do, like Facebook algorithms during the elections,” Lu said. 

Lu said the ban on TikTok will have a significant impact on the general population. 

“There are so many events and news that we have real-time access to through TikTok that traditional news outlets would never push or focus on,” Lu said. “There is so much educational content for all generations on the app. This ban would censor or silence a lot of voices.”

The user base in the U.S. largely consists of 18 to 29 year olds, according to the Omnicore Agency. 

“TikTok allows for a lot of people to express their creativity and to find communities that they want to be in,” Lu said. ”I think people will definitely miss the communities and opportunities to learn from others.”

The effects of TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube are all similar to each other: addictive for children and young adults, according to Haworth’s statement. 

The Center for Countering Digital Hate conducted a study on the effects of social media on children. Within minutes, TikTok showed content about suicide and eating disorders, according to the study. 

Instagram was blamed for the suicide of 14 year old Molly Russell in September 2022. Russell’s Instagram account had saved and liked 2100 posts about self-harm, depression and suicide in the six months prior to her death, according to the study. 

Shuhan Yang, a Chinese international student majoring in graphic design, said the bill has a xenophobic and racist tone as the bill mainly targets Chinese-owned mobile applications.

Many Chinese Americans and immigrants use WeChat to communicate with friends and families in China, according to Yang

“As an international student, WeChat is really important to how we communicate with our family. It is the most efficient way,” Yang said.

Yang said people in China don’t use Instagram or Facebook, but if they do, it is with a virtual private network, or VPN. 

“[If U.S. proceeds with the bill] I will use VPN to use WeChat. I use WeChat a lot. Every moment, I get messages from my family and my friends,” Yang said.

People use TikTok as a source of income, Yang said.

“Professional TikTokers earn money off of the videos they make and fans give them gifts or money,” Yang said. 

TikTok star Addison Rae made $5 million in 2020, according to Forbes. Rae and other TikTok stars earn their money through sales of personally branded merchandise or sponsored by companies, according to the article. 

Maggie Li, a junior biology student, said while she doesn’t use the international version of TikTok, she uses Douyin, which is TikTok in the Chinese network.

“A lot of things shown on TikTok is already on Youtube or Instagram. People use it [TikTok] as a social media like they use Instagram or Facebook,” Li said.