U.S. lawmakers unveil bipartisan bill to ban TikTok

Republican Senator Marco Rubio has announced bipartisan legislation to ban TikTok in the U.S. over fears that the popular social video app could be used to spy on Americans.

If approved, the law would have far-reaching impacts on musicians, influencers, and brands that count on TokTok as a marketing and fan engagement platform.

The proposed legislation would block all transactions from any social media platform based in or under the influence of China or Russia. A companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives is co-sponsored by Republican congressman Mike Gallagher and Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi.

The move to ban TikTok is not without critics.

Rubio and the bill’s supporters are “pretending that banning a single app somehow fixes the entirety of a much bigger problem,” says Karl Bode of Techdirt. “A problem they genuinely helped create by opposing pretty much any meaningful oversight for any data-hoovering operation, provided they pinky swore they weren’t doing anything dodgy with it.”

“It is troubling that rather than encouraging the administration to conclude its national security review of TikTok, some members of Congress have decided to push for a politically-motivated ban that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States,” a TikTok spokesperson told Reuters, adding that the company would continue to brief members of Congress on its plan to “further secure our platform in the United States.”

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Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.