OTI Opposes House’s Vote on Bill That Could Lead to TikTok Ban

In response to today’s vote in the House of Representatives, which saw H.R. 7521 (the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act) pass, the Open Technology Institute (OTI), a New America program fostering equitable access to digital technology and its benefits, issued the following statement from Lilian Coral, Head of OTI and Vice President for Technology and Democracy programs at New America:

The Open Technology Institute was disappointed that the House of Representatives passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. We believe in an open and safe internet and in the right of every American to access digital technology and its benefits. We share the House’s concerns about Americans’ data privacy; the ability for data brokers to sell sensitive data to foreign and U.S. government agencies; and how foreign governments may use a range of social media applications, including TikTok, to run online influence operations and spread disinformation.

But due to the rise of social media platforms, many of these concerns aren’t unique to TikTok, and this bill won’t address them. Functionally banning TikTok in the United States is an overly blunt approach with at least three deep flaws. First, the bill raises serious free expression and First Amendment concerns that represent a troubling trend away from longstanding U.S. policy in favor of a largely open internet. Second, the bill doesn’t meaningfully address privacy and data security considerations, but passing strong federal privacy legislation like the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (2022) or narrower laws prohibiting data brokers from selling Americans’ sensitive data would. Third, this techno-nationalist approach could embolden other governments, beyond China, to take similar stances and ban American applications and services. This would harm American innovation, imperil human rights globally, and deal another major blow to the vision of an open and interoperable global internet. We urge the Senate to consider alternate measures to address the concerns underlying H.R. 7521.