The Biden administration is threatening a potential U.S. ban on TikTok if its Chinese owners refuse to sell their stakes in the video-sharing app, a source close to the company told NBC News Thursday.
The source, however, warned that the company does not view the administration’s decision as a final order. Negotiations between TikTok and US government officials have been going on for years.
Administration requirement first reported The Wall Street Journal is signaling a major change in US stance on Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., which owns the popular video-sharing app.
The White House and Treasury Department declined to comment on NBC News.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement: “If the goal is to protect national security, the takeover will not solve the problem: the change of ownership will not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access to them. The best way to address national security concerns is to transparently protect US user data and US-based systems with the robust third-party monitoring, validation, and verification that we are already implementing.”
Any sale by ByteDance Ltd. must be approved by the Chinese government. On Thursday, a Foreign Office spokesman said the US has not provided any evidence that TikTok poses a threat to its national security.
“The US side must stop spreading false information on the issue of data security, stop the unreasonable suppression of relevant enterprises, and provide an open, honest, fair and non-discriminatory business environment for enterprises of all countries so that they can invest and work in the United States,” spokesman Wang Wenbin said at the regular briefing.
Brooke Oberwetter, a spokesperson for TikTok, told NBC News last week that the Biden administration already has the power to control the app through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
News of the administration’s demand comes a week after the White House approved bipartisan bill in Congress, allowing the federal government to regulate and even ban foreign-made technology, including TikTok. TikTok chief executive Show Zi Chu is due to testify before Congress next week.
In late December, Biden signed into law a law banning the use of TikTok on government devices.
Republicans have repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for handling TikTok-related security issues. That criticism intensified last month when some GOP critics tried to link the app to a suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew across the United States.
Opponents of a potential TikTok ban counter that banning the app from phones in the US is not a comprehensive solution to data security concerns.
In the last year of his presidency, Donald Trump tried to ban downloads of TikTok, but the Commerce Department eventually dropped the order forcing it to shut down after a lawsuit.
Kristen Welker
Kristen Welker is the chief white house correspondent for NBC News.
Molly Roker
Molly Roker is a journalist for NBC News in New York.
Zoe Richards
Zoe Richards is an evening political reporter for NBC News.
Jace Zhang, Jennifer Jett another Summer concept contributed.
In his first two years in office, Joe Biden surprised and delighted the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. He previously passed the American Rescue Plan, a nearly $2 trillion economic stimulus bill aimed at alleviating the pandemic. He signed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package and the first gun control law in decades.
But recently, President Biden has taken a number of steps that run counter to the liberal narrative. He approved a major oil drilling project in Alaska. He ran a large deficit budget and helped Congress repeal a crime bill passed by the Washington, D.C. City Council.
Why did we write this
President Joe Biden appears to be changing stance ahead of the 2024 presidential campaign, moving to the center on issues like crime, oil and immigration.
None of these latest moves should come as a surprise, longtime Biden watchers say. For decades a Washington regular, both in the Senate and as Vice President, he was a creature in the middle, often willing to work through the aisle and make deals.
“He always manages to find what is the center of the Democratic Party and how to be there,” says Seth Musket, a political scientist at the University of Denver.
Now, Mr. Biden appears to be gearing up for an expected 2024 re-election campaign, and since there is no sign that he will face significant opposition for the Democratic presidential nomination, he can focus his messages directly on core voters. general elections.
In his first two years in office, Joe Biden surprised and delighted the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
He previously passed the American Rescue Plan, a nearly $2 trillion economic stimulus bill aimed at alleviating the pandemic. He signed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package and the first gun control law in decades. He is undertaking a massive student debt relief initiative now before the Supreme Court, and last August he signed into law the historic Climate Change and Public Health Act.
“Biden went to the left flank,” the conservatives essentially shouted from behind the scenes.
Why did we write this
President Joe Biden appears to be changing stance ahead of the 2024 presidential campaign, moving to the center on issues like crime, oil and immigration.
Against this backdrop, President Biden recently took a number of steps contrary to the liberal narrative: he approved a major oil drilling project in Alaska. He deployed a budget heavy in deficit reduction. He helped Congress repeal the crime law passed by Washington, D.C., countering the city’s move for statehood. And he is reportedly considering restoring the Trump-era practice of detaining families of migrants who cross the southern border illegally.
What gives? In fact, none of these latest moves should come as a surprise, longtime Biden watchers say. For decades a Washington regular, both in the Senate and as Vice President, he was a creature in the middle, often willing to work through the aisle and make deals.
“That was his real strength throughout his career,” says Seth Musket, a political scientist at the University of Denver. “He always manages to find what is the center of the Democratic Party and how to be there.”
The “centre” is, of course, an ever-evolving place, depending on where the two sides stand. And today, in an environment of intense political polarization, it has become smaller and more difficult to define, as the parties themselves settle sharp internal differences.
Historically, Mr. Biden has at times pushed the boundaries in a liberal direction, such as in 2012 when he approved same-sex marriage in front of his then boss, President Barack Obama. In the other direction, Mr. Biden has been known to once good relations with segregationistsand as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991. gave a short letter on charges of sexual harassment against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.
Marcy Knightswander/AP/File
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Biden speaks to members of the panel that is due to testify during Clarence Thomas’ nomination hearing for the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington. 14, 1991. Left to right: Anna Jenkins (looking down), Nancy Altman, Pamela Tolkien, Patricia Johnson and Linda Jackson.
Now, Mr. Biden appears to be gearing up for an expected 2024 re-election campaign, and since there is no sign that he will face significant opposition for the Democratic presidential nomination, he can focus his messages directly on core voters. general elections.
This reality may well come to light as the president grapples with the banking turmoil caused by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. On Friday, Mr. Biden called on Congress to take action to increase the accountability of top bankers.
“That he’s signaling that he’s in favor of more regulation and that the Republicans are holding us back from that seems like a pretty good campaign stance,” says Professor Musket, author of Learning from Losses: Democrats, 2016-2020.
While calls for greater banking regulation seem to be in line with public opinion lack of confidence in financial institutions Since the 2008-2009 economic crisis, other new elements on Mr. Biden’s agenda could alienate activists on the left — those who don’t just vote, but work to win votes and perform other vital party functions.
This week, climate activists staged protests against a Biden-approved plan to allow ConocoPhillips to drill on federal land in Alaska. And if the Biden administration resumes detentions of migrant families, expect more protests from relevant interest groups.
So far, the goodwill Mr. Biden has built up with the Progressives seems to have served him well — and may even have allowed him to endure a bit as he tacks toward the center.
“We clearly still see Biden as the people’s president,” says Rahna Epting, executive director of MoveOn.org. “Firstly, in 2020, he received over 80 million votes. We know he has a wide constituency that he needs to keep in mind.”
And what about the recent departure of White House Chief of Staff Ron Klein, a longtime Biden aide who was a regular on Twitter and considered a leftist White House emissary? Mr. Klein was replaced by Jeff Zients, who was touted for his executive ability but is less politically oriented.
Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters
Camila Paz, a Venezuelan migrant, takes part in a protest at the Paso del Norte International Bridge against asylum requests in the United States, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on March 12, 2023. President Joe Biden is reportedly considering restoring the Trump era. the practice of detaining families of migrants illegally crossing the southern border.
The observation reflects thinking “inside the Beltway,” Ms. Epting says, and ignores a more important context: Democrats no longer control both houses of Congress, having lost the House in November’s midterm elections.
“This is another defining moment,” says Ms Epting. “The administration is probably leaning more towards campaigning than trying to advance the legislative agenda in Congress.”
She also expresses confidence that Mr. Biden’s remaining top advisers know what they are doing. Many of them are veterans of both Biden’s world and past Democratic White Houses.
Expect to hear a lot of this “Bidenism” too – “Don’t compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative.” – as he prepares to run again in 2024, possibly against former President Donald Trump.
For longtime moderate Democratic activist Jim Kessler, co-founder of the Third Way group, Mr. Biden is simply moving to where Americans are on key issues, including crime and immigration.
“I put them at the top of the list,” says Mr. Kessler. “Democrats were saddled with far-left slogans of ‘no police funding’ and ‘abolish ICE’,” he adds, referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“If you’re in a cobalt blue area, you can just ignore it,” he says. “But if you need to ideologically conquer the middle of America, you need to take corrective action.”
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