According to a draft agreement, the federal government has sought vast powers to control the way TikTok operates in the U.S. Forbes reports that the Biden administration has been negotiating with TikTok to address national security concerns raised by Chinese ownership of the video platform’s parent company, ByteDance.
Some state governments, including Texas’, have banned TikTok on government devices, and the negotiations with the federal government are aimed at staving off a nationwide ban. Tech expert Omar Gallaga says the powers available to the government under the draft agreement far surpass current regulations on other social media platforms.
Highlights from this segment:
– The draft agreement, dated 2022, is intended to mitigate national security concerns raised about TikTok’s ownership.
– Security concerns about the short-form video platform first emerged during the Trump administration, when officials talked of banning the platform in the U.S.
– Under the agreement, the government could veto TikTok’s choice of security officials, force the company to change its terms of service, and require that company data be stored on U.S. servers – a practice TikTok agreed to, but that some say has not been fully implemented.
