US Commerce head backs legislation to address TikTok, threats

investing.com:

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo supports legislation giving the Commerce Department new tools to address foreign adversary-owned app information concerns, she said on Wednesday.

Her comments come as concerns about Chinese-owned TikTok have sparked new efforts in Congress to boost powers to address it or potentially ban the popular short video sharing app, but those bills have stalled in Congress. TikTok, which has more than 150 million U.S. users, denies it improperly uses U.S. data.

«Certainly TikTok poses national security risks to be clear but we need a comprehensive plan,» Raimondo said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing.

Commerce needs new legal tools from Congress «to have a comprehensive approach to these connected apps that pose national security risks,» Raimondo said.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In March, the head of the FBI said the Chinese government could use TikTok to control data on millions of U.S. users, saying the Chinese-owned video app «screams» of security concerns.

TikTok said it has spent more than $1.5 billion on rigorous data security efforts and rejects spying allegations.

Raimondo backed legislation introduced by Senators Mark Warner and John Thune and 24 other senators in March called the Restrict Act that would authorize the Commerce Department to review or block a range of transactions involving foreign information and communications technology that pose national security risks like TikTok and also said she supports a separate similar bill that is being drafted by Senator Maria Cantwell called the Guard Act.

«I am often asked should we outlaw TikTok? This is bigger than TikTok,» Raimondo said.

Reuters and