The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee voted in favor of a bill that could give President Joe Biden the ability to ban TikTok. This bill, known as the Deterring America’s Technological Adversaries (DATA) Act, was introduced Friday by Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX), then fast-tracked to a vote on Wednesday, which passed 24-16; all Democrats voted no.
Before the bill gets to Biden, it still needs to pass in the Senate, as well as the rest of the House. Though Biden has said he is unsure if legislators would ban TikTok, the government has taken the precaution of banning the app on government-issued devices; several state governments have done the same. In just the past week, Canada and the European Commission have enacted similar measures to prohibit government staff from using TikTok on work devices.
McCaul’s bill quotes FBI Director Christopher Wray, who stated in December that he has …
