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Sarah Silbiger

A top Senate Democrat said on Thursday she is drafting an alternative proposal to tackle national security concerns allegedly posed by foreign-linked apps like TikTok, which would give Congress more oversight over any restrictions the White House places on companies.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), chair of the key Senate Commerce Committee, said the effort is intended to give the executive branch greater power to identify and address perceived risks while granting Congress the power to keep those actions in check.

“You want to give people tools that they can use and you want to set parameters that give somebody the oversight,” Cantwell told reporters after a committee meeting.

The proposal would mark a major new entrant in the congressional debate over TikTok, which lawmakers have said poses security risks because its parent company, ByteDance, is based in China. TikTok has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/15/ceo-tiktok-exclusive-interview/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert" target=_blank>disputed the claims</a> and has proposed changes to its operations to assuage concerns from the Biden administration and lawmakers that China could use the app to seize Americans’ data.

As chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, Cantwell could control the fate of a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/03/07/tiktok-ban-senate-proposal/" target=_blank>separate proposal</a> that would give the Commerce Department a more direct route to ban TikTok, known as the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/686/text" target=_blank>Restrict Act</a>. The White House has endorsed the bipartisan bill, led by Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), but some House Republicans have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/31/washington-tiktok-tribes-explained/" target=_blank>criticized the measure</a> on grounds it gives the Biden administration too much power to decide which apps to restrict or prohibit.

Cantwell said that her office thinks Warner’s bill “needs work,” and she argued that her approach would strike a better balance between giving the White House more tools while creating new oversight mechanisms. She submitted an initial version of the bill as an <a href="https://www.congress.gov/amendment/118th-congress/senate-amendment/581/text" target=_blank>amendment</a> to the Senate’s sprawling defense policy bill to kick off negotiations, she noted, but it has not been finalized.

“Senator Warner welcomes the opportunity to work with the leadership of the Senate Commerce Committee to address threats from foreign-based technology,” Warner spokeswoman Rachel Cohen said in an email.

The Cantwell amendment urges the White House to “undertake a rulemaking process to protect United States data linked to sensitive populations that could be exploited by foreign adversaries” and tasks the Commerce Department with taking steps “to identify, assess, and mitigate risks to the information and communications technology and services supply chain in the United States.”

A Senate Commerce aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the proposal said the measure will not seek to directly ban TikTok but rather tackle national security risks more broadly without running afoul of the First Amendment.

The aide said that committees, including Commerce and Senate Intelligence, which Warner chairs, would probably have oversight under the framework, and that Cantwell has been in discussions with Warner’s office and the Biden administration about the measure.

TikTok and civil liberties advocates have argued that a ban against the app would violate consumers’ free speech rights, and they warn that attempts to boot it from the United States or to spin it off from ByteDance — which the Trump administration attempted — would run into major constitutional hurdles in the courts.

Meanwhile, other lawmakers, including Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), have introduced bills that seek to more explicitly ban TikTok, mentioning the company by name in the legislative text.

Cantwell said her committee will probably turn to considering the matter when Congress returns after its August recess.

Lehigh University, BA in Political Science

Lehigh University, MA in Political Science

 Cristiano Lima-Strong is a tech policy reporter and author of The Washington Post's Technology 202 newsletter, focusing on the intersection of tech, politics and policy. His coverage focuses on privacy and children’s online safety. He previously served as a senior web producer, breaking news reporter and tech policy reporter for Politico.

Cristiano Lima-Strong

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