LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)-U.S. senators are discussing amendments to allay concerns about a measure that would grant the Biden administration additional authority to outlaw Chinese-owned TikTok.
Senator Mark Warner of the Democratic Party told Reuters that when the Restrict Act was proposed in March, strong lobbying by ByteDance-owned TikTok against it “slowed a bit of our momentum.“
Warner stated that senators had “a proposal on a series of amendments to make it explicitly clear” and answer complaints, such as that specific Americans may be affected or that the bill constitutes a significant increase of government power.
The legislation endorsed by the White House would grant the Commerce Department new authority to review, block, and address a range of transactions involving foreign information and communications technology that pose national security risks.
“I will grant TikTok this – they spent $100 million (roughly Rs. 820 crore) in lobbying and slowed a bit of our momentum,” Warner said, adding that initially it seemed it would be almost “too easy” to get the bill approved.
READ ALSO: Montana Becomes 1st US State To Ban TikTok
Requests for response regarding Warner’s evaluation of TikTok’s lobbying went unanswered right away.
A new TikTok prohibition measure was proposed by Senator Josh Hawley in March, but Republican Senator Rand Paul vetoed it because he claimed that the Restrict Act “doesn’t ban TikTok.” It grants the President a great deal of new power.
In March, the Biden administration urged that TikTok’s Chinese owners sell their shares or risk a U.S. embargo. Trump attempted to outlaw TikTok in 2020, but U.S. courts rejected his request.
Warner said there are a lot of conversations about the bill, adding it could be attached to an annual defense bill or could be part of a China-related bill that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer wants.
READ ALSO: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew To Appear Before US Congress Over Security Fears
“There have been another three or four apps that have come out that are Chinese controlled so we need a fair rules-based process to deal with this rather than kind of a one-off basis,” Warner said.
More than 150 million Americans use TikTok, which claims to have invested over $1.5 billion (approximately Rs. 12,400 crore) in stringent data security measures and denies any allegations of eavesdropping.
The business is battling a prohibition by the state of Montana that will go into force on January 1. Regarding TikTok’s motion, a judge has scheduled a hearing for October 12.