Lubbock Times

Chairman Jodey Arrington of Texas expressed his concerns following the House's passing of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. Arrington stated, "This isn’t about TikTok. It’s about our greatest adversarial threat, and we shouldn’t allow China to buy our land, collect information on our children, control our food or fuel supply, or do anything else that compromises America’s security."

The legislation, known as H.R. 7521, aims to safeguard U.S. national security by prohibiting marketplaces from hosting applications controlled by foreign adversaries, including the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-controlled ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. The bill establishes a framework that allows the President to require divestment of applications controlled by foreign adversary covered companies if they pose a national security threat.

Furthermore, the legislation incentivizes divestment from the People's Republic of China (PRC) or else TikTok will face a ban in the U.S. The President, along with relevant government agencies, will oversee the process of divestment to ensure national security concerns are addressed while minimizing impacts on users. If divestment occurs, TikTok can continue its operations in the U.S.

Additionally, the bill empowers users and small businesses to switch platforms if an application controlled by a foreign adversary covered company is not divested. It also ensures that individual users will not face enforcement actions, with civil enforcement actions targeting companies that violate the legislation.

It is important to note that the legislation solely targets applications controlled by foreign adversary entities such as the PRC, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, without impacting domestic entities not controlled by foreign adversaries.