(TheRedWire.com) – On Sunday, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) claimed that the White House is “very in favor” of a Senate bill that would provide the Department of Commerce with the ability to review and even ban technologies associated with foreign governments. This bill was introduced at a time when Congress is looking into TikTok, a Chinese-linked social media platform.
During an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Warner stated that the White House supported this bill which would provide the secretary of Commerce with the “tools to ban, to force a sale, other tools.”
The bill has been brought forth by a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the Senate, led by Warner and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), and if successful it would give the executive branch the ability to oversee foreign technologies. Officials have repeatedly expressed national security concerns associated with the increased usage of TikTok, a platform that could make user data available to the Chinese government. The idea of banning the platform in the U.S. has widely been promoted.
Warner specifically said that the bill, dubbed the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology (RESTRICT) Act, was going to provide the executive branch with more regulatory powers over foreign technologies and it is thus far supported by 22 senators, 11 of whom are Republicans and 11 who are Democrats.
Warner did not disclose whether the White House has signaled any plans to have TikTok banned or to force its sale if it is given that authority.
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