The proposal to ban Chinese-owned social media sites from the U.S. Congress comes at a critical point in the negotiations between the United States and TikTok

The Chinese-owned app isn’t allowed on many federal government devices, but the new spending bill expands that prohibition. The Biden administration is attempting to complete their national security review of the popular app and the ban will likely result in a hit to TikTok’s reputation.

China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and other countries that are considered to be foreign adversaries by the US should be blocked from using social media sites under the proposed legislation.

Probably not — unless you’re a federal government employee who uses a work phone to browse TikTok. The White House, the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department already prohibit staff from having TikTok on government-issued devices, so this ban just extends the rule for all U.S. government employees. More than a dozen states have passed similar TikTok bans for devices issued by state governments.

At a crucial moment in the negotiations between TikTok and the government of the United States, the posturing comes at an important point in the negotiations in order to address national security concerns while allowing the app’s continued use in the US.

To further secure the platform in the United States, McQuaide said that they would brief members of Congress on plans developed by the country’s top national security agencies.

He questions what exactly TikTok might be able to do with the information it knows about users, even though he believes it is vacuuming up vast amounts of personal data.

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But its widespread usage across the U.S. is alarming government officials. In November, FBI Director Christopher Wray raised eyebrows after he told lawmakers that the app could be used to control users’ devices.

The Senate-passed bill would provide exceptions for “law enforcement activities, national security interests and activities, and security researchers.”

But while legislators are working to limit TikTok, Berkman acknowledges how difficult it would be to get users off the app. More than a billion users flock to the site every month according to the app.

The administration is in contradiction with its approach to TikTok, embracing it as a vital conduit to the public, and afraid of it as a potential tool of foreign influence. Seemingly overnight, TikTok has managed to remake American culture both low and high, from media and music to memes and celebrity, in its own image. TikTok turned Olivia Rodrigo into a household name and propelled the author Colleen Hoover to the top of the best-seller list, with more copies sold this year than the Bible. A whole new dialect of algospeak is spreading across pop culture, thanks in part to the fact that TikTok introduced “quiet quitting” one of their hallmark phrases. Corporations and brands, from Goldfish crackers to Prada, have redirected billions of dollars worth of advertising to the platform in recognition of its all-encompassing reach, which can, at seemingly any moment, turn even a decades-old product into a must-have item. Last year, TikTok had more site visits than Google, and more watch minutes in the United States than YouTube. Facebook took almost nine years to reach one billion users; TikTok did it in five.

TikTok and The CFIUS Committee: An Incremental Restrictions on User Privacy on Video Content in the U.S.

While the company denies it would ever be used for nefarious purposes, national security experts say China-based businesses usually have to give unfettered access to the authoritarian regime if information is ever sought.

So the ban on federal government devices is an incremental restriction: Most drastic measures have not advanced, since the efforts lacked the political will, or courts intervened to stop them.

“I think there is something wrong with TikTok and the main reason is that it is more driven by users than other social media applications.” said a professor at the University of California San Diego who did not want to be named.

Sameer Patil, a professor at the University of Utah who studies user privacy online, said that there was no easy way to determine how much of Byte Dance’s operations are in the United States.

“While social media companies are certainly harvesting all kinds of data about users, I think it’s usually overblown to what extent they ‘know’ about users on an individual level,” he said.

Patil said if TikTok users are worried about their privacy, he suggests restricting posts to friends only and to remove location data from videos, which can be done in the app’s settings.

TikTok, Oberwetter said, has faith in the CFIUS process, which is centered on making sure the video app does not become manipulated by the influence of the Chinese government.

The committee may approve of the steps TikTok has taken to make sure there is a safety net between the US and China.

It is very rare for the deliberations of CFIUS to happen behind closed doors. It is not clear when the committee might finish its investigation, nor is it known which way it is leaning.