Thread by @Breeauna9

🧵Two New Bills Have Just Been Introduced-TikTok🧵

There's been some recent confusion related to banning TikTok, as two new bills have recently been introduced in Congress.

It's clear the public has zero tolerance for the former attempt known as The Restrict Act, or the Digital Platform Commission Act," and with good reasons.

Below, I'll share my cursory analysis of the two latest versions with the links. Take a look and share your thoughts.

First up, "H.R.7520 - Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024"

All-in-all, I personally think this is the right way to address the issue.

The bill narrowly defines foreign adversarial nations as North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran.

The bill further narrows the scope to the sale of US Citizens' data beyond the information Americans have given permission to a data broker to share.

The bill narrowly outlines the type of data illegal to sell such as; Geo-location, ID, SSN, Genetic information, mental health information, naked photos, sexual acts, text messages and private communications or essentially any type of identifying information that one would consider private - not for distribution.

I also like that the bill does not create a new agency but instead gives this authority to the FTC, keeping the current scope and limitations of the agency in place.

I wouldn't consider this to be a TikTok ban in any way. However, the bill helps expand administrative authority in order to address the most prescient and imminent areas of concern cited in relation to CCP ownership of TikTok.

I don't think it's a bad bill, but I also hope the FTC will not run rampant or try to redefine whom the law applies to if given this new authority. This is my only concern with the bill.

congress.gov/bill/118th-con…

The second bill is H.R 7521
"Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act”

This bill appears to be a cleaned-up version of the Restrict Act. It's similar in scope, with a few caveats.

Pros
- Defines foreign adversarial nation as N. Korea, China, Russia, and Iran
- Names TikTok and Bytedance and all subsidiaries or affiliates
- Public notice must be given
- Judicial review is applicable, lists district and appeals court
- Enforcement is a fine of 5,000 per user, and goes through the AG. Enforcement does not list jail time or fines for individuals
- Covered Entity is defined as a platform/app with a million plus users

Cons
- "Data" is not well defined, and there's an exemption for "necessary services" for divestiture compliance before the bill becomes effective, but those services are not defined well either.
"(2) EXEMPTIONS FOR CERTAIN NECESSARY SERVICES.—Subsections (a) and (b) do not apply to services provided with respect to a foreign adversary controlled application that are necessary for an entity to attain compliance with such subsections."

- Compelled divestiture is at the discretion of the President, where national security is concerned.
- Gives the POTUS increased authority, gives the DOD and AG increased authority
- Lists "person" but doesn't clearly define what a person is/citizenship status.
- Adds web hosting services, cloud storage, and domain services.

I'm on the fence with this one. I'm hoping for others to read both bills and share their Thoughts. Let's have a discussion.congress.gov/bill/118th-con…