In the wake of recent high‐profile congressional hearings involving the CEO of TikTok, politicians and pundits are in a moral panic about the social media app and its Chinese owner, ByteDance. Instead of just focusing on TikTok or app‐related privacy issues, however, some in Congress want to go further.
Much further.
In particular, a bipartisan group of senators, reportedly with the White House’s input and backing, are proposing to delegate expansive new “national security” powers to the executive branch so that it can investigate and restrict American citizens’ transactions that involve both certain foreign “adversary” nations, including but not limited to China, and a wide range of information and communications technology (ICT) products and services. As we’ll explain, the proposal—at least as currently written—raises troubling and far‐reaching concerns for the First Amendment, international commerce, technology, privacy, and separation of powers.
What’s Actually in the RESTRICT Act?
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