Never fear, Americans. President Joe Biden has pushed ByteDance, the Chinese company that currently owns the United States’ share of the uber-popular social media app TikTok, between a rock and a hard place, warning ByteDance CEO Shou Zi Chew to either sell the American share of TikTok or face an indefinite ban of the app throughout the U.States.
Biden aims to address TikTok as the national security threat that it is — no one can deny the hazards of Chinese data-farming companies’ access to Americans’ data and their phone software. ByteDance accessing data in Americans’ phones has the potential of the Chinese government accessing that same data, due to the makeup of Chinese data sharing laws. One of the biggest fears of the American government at this point is that of the unknown: if the Chinese government obtains massive quantities of sensitive U.S. user data, they could exploit it in any way they choose. However, this TikTok ban is not the end-all be-all for privacy concerns borne of social media invasiveness. If anything, Biden is only addressing a small part of a much grander problem.
American companies such as Meta have faced similar accusations about stealing users’ data. Meta was fined $275 million by the Irish Data Protection Commission in 2021 for a leak that exposed more than 500 million users’ data from around the world. If the government wants to tackle the issue of data security, American companies must be held to the same standard as international ones.
Legislation intended to regulate TikTok was introduced to the U.S. Senate in early March, backed by a group of bipartisan senators. The bill, known as the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology (RESTRICT) Act, will not only police TikTok’s presence on American devices, but also give the federal government more control over technology produced and controlled outside of the U.States. While not addressing TikTok directly, this bill has anti-TikTok rhetoric written all over it. Do not get us wrong: TikTok is a national security threat and should be regulated. Both the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have warned that ByteDance, through TikTok, could gain access to data such as browsing history or location and share that information with the Chinese government, due China’s lack of data sharing laws. However, the federal government’s concern over social media data collection is seemingly hyper-focused on foreign technology.
If politicians truly want to rid the U.S. of data collection threats that can pose national security risks, they should look no further than companies like Meta. Just two years ago, Meta, then Facebook, was sued and congressionally questioned for allowing approximately 87 million users worth of data to be nonconsensually collected by a British consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica. The data was harvested and sold to entities like Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Yet, Meta is allowed to continue operating in the U.S., despite the imminent and real threat it poses to data security and fair democracy.
This outlash toward foreign companies is targeted in more than one way. Public image is everything for the U.S. government in regard to foreign competition such as China or Russia. A stiff hand toward foreign affairs and access to U.S. information reflects well on both Congress and Biden’s administration. Good intentions are certainly present in this White House-sponsored bill, but so is the desire to be seen as forceful and unyielding toward foreign competition.
It is no coincidence that this is the issue Biden has chosen to address at the cusp of the 2024 presidential election, above pressing domestic issues like gun violence. Biden’s campaign promises to increase gun regulation are yet to be fully fulfilled and legislation to enforce background checks for all guns has not yet been passed. Even as the U.S. suffers from school shootings, such as that of the Nashville elementary school shooting on March 27, there are other things on legislators’ and the White House’s minds. Instead of imposing federal gun regulations, the U.S. is bickering with a foreign technology company CEO.
Additionally, there is no doubt that xenophobia plays a role in this legislation. The U.S. government can more easily express and enforce the RESTRICT act because it’s targeted against a Chinese company; fear mongering is more effective when it targets pre-existing stigmas, such as xenophobia and discrimination against China, its companies and its government. In fact, some Asian Americans have even noted that this TikTok ban has the potential (if it hasn’t already) to continue the perpetuation of anti-Asian sentiments.
That is not to say that this bill is unneeded — if anything, it is not encompassing enough. Biden and Congress would both be well-advised to continue to address issues of data privacy, in addition to national security — and that includes American companies like Meta and foreign companies like ByteDance. Hopefully, after the outcome of Biden’s ultimatum, the American government will feel empowered to protect Americans’ data abroad and at home.
The above editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel’s Editorial Board. The Editorial Board is composed of Isabelle Bellott-McGrath, Evelyn Cho, Ellie Fivas, Marc Goedemans, Elyn Lee, Saanvi Nayar, Shruti Nemala, Nushrat Nur and Sara Perez.
