House Panel Moves Swiftly on Data Security

The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced two bipartisan pieces of legislation today to protect Americans’ data and national security against foreign adversaries. Both bills were advanced to the House Floor with unanimous support. 

• H.R. 7521, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, was reported to the Full House, without amendment, by a roll call vote of 50 yeas to 0 nays.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Democracy and Technology,  Electronic Frontier Foundation and Fight for the Future sent a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee urging them to oppose H.R. 7521  "because it would violate the First Amendment rights of Americans across the country who rely on TikTok for information, communication, advocacy, and entertainment. This bill would functionally ban the distribution of TikTok in the United States, and would grant the President broad new powers to ban other social media platforms based on their country of origin."

Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY) released a statement supporting the bill's reporting out.

"Today's extensive disinformation campaign perpetrated by TikTok at the expense of its users perfectly represents the troubling scale of this app's influence.

Despite TikTok's disingenuous actions, H.R. 7521 does not ban TikTok. Instead, this bill incentivizes TikTok U.S. to sever its concerning relationship with ByteDance and the Chinese Communist Party, not only cutting off their ability to surveil Americans and sell their data but enabling TikTok U.S. to become an American company guided by American principles and Western democratic values.

• H.R. 7520, the Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024, was reported to the Full House, without amendment, by a roll call vote of 50 yeas to 0 nays.

HR 7520  Forbids “data brokers from selling, transferring, or giving access to such data to certain foreign adversaries or entities controlled by those foreign adversaries,”