The White House endorsed a bipartisan bill that could give the president authority to ban or force a sale of TikTok, support that could hasten passage and break a deadlock over how to address privacy concerns around the popular Chinese-owned app.
The bill introduced Tuesday would give the president the ability to force the sale of foreign-owned technologies, applications, software or e-commerce platforms if they present a national security threat to U.S. users. It doesn’t mention Beijing-based Bytedance Ltd.’s TikTok by name, but the video-sharing app, which has about 100 million users in the U.S., is the clear target.
"We look forward to continue working with both Democrats and Republicans on this bill, and urge Congress to act quickly to send it to the president’s desk,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.
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