White House backs bill that could give it power to ban TikTok nationwide

The White House said it backed legislation introduced on Tuesday by a dozen senators to give the administration new powers to ban Chinese-owned video app TikTok and other foreign-based technologies if they pose national security threats.

The endorsement boosts efforts by a number of lawmakers to ban the popular ByteDance-owned app, which is used by more than 100 million Americans.

The bill gives the commerce department the authority to impose restrictions up to and including banning TikTok and other technologies that pose national security risks, said the Democratic senator Mark Warner, who chairs the intelligence committee.

He said it would also apply to foreign technologies from China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba.

Warner said it was important the government do more to make clear what it believes are the national security risks to the US from the use of TikTok.

TikTok has come under increasing fire over fears user data could end up in the hands of the Chinese government, undermining western security interests.

The House foreign affairs committee last week voted along party lines on a bill sponsored by Representative Michael McCaul to give Biden the power to ban TikTok after then president Donald Trump was stymied by courts in 2020 in his efforts to ban the app along with the Chinese messaging app WeChat.