The U.S. House of Representatives has approved the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act that would restrict TikTok from operating in the U.S. unless it divests from Chinese parent firm ByteDance just days after the legislation's approval by a House committee, according to SiliconAngle.
Under the bill, TikTok would be mandated to enable customer data transfers to another app while Google, Apple, and other tech firms would be restricted from offering the app on their respective app stores. Other foreign adversary-controlled social media apps identified by the President could also be banned under the legislation. Despite the restrictions, such a regulation has been deemed lacking by some cybersecurity experts, including Arctic Wolf Networks Chief Information Security Officer Adam Marre, who has been in favor of data privacy rules curbing the sale of consumer data and alterations of algorithms that could be exploited in information campaigns. "While addressing TikTok’s specific threats is valid, such efforts fall short as a sustainable, comprehensive strategy, failing to confront the broader privacy and security concerns inherent in the tech industry," Marre said.
