WASHINGTON — The United States defends a open internet for many years, arguing that the web should be largely unregulated and that digital data should flow freely around the world without the limitation of borders. The US government opposes internet censorship in other countries and has even financially supported the development of software that allows people in autocratic states to bypass online content restrictions.
This could be at risk.
The House of Representatives is expected to once again advance legislation to force the sale of TikTok by its Chinese owner, ByteDanceor implement an unprecedented ban on the app in the United States, this time including the topic in an aid package for Israel and Ukraine.
This measure is believed to be similar to one that passed the House last month and had bipartisan support. This was the most significant step ever taken by Congress to force the sale of a foreign-owned app as large as TikTok.
USA in contradiction?
Digital rights groups around the world have reacted and raised the question of how the measures against TikTok contradict US arguments in favor of an open internet.
Alexander Gorbunov, a Russian opposition blogger, posted on social media last month that the country could use the measure to shut down services like YouTube. Digital rights advocates around the world express fears that a cascade effect will occur, and that the United States would provide a justification for authoritarian governments that want to censor the Internet.
In March, the Chinese government, which controls its country’s Internet, said that the US has “one way of talking and doing things about the United States and another way of talking and doing things about other countries”, mentioning the legislation on TikTok.
For digital rights advocates, by targeting TikTok — a social media platform that has 170 million users in the U.S., many of whom share dance moves, opine on politics and sell products — the United States could undermine its decades-long efforts to promote a free and open Internet, governed by international organizations, not individual countries.
In recent years, the Internet has fragmented as authoritarian governments in China and Russia increasingly encroach on their citizens’ access to the Internet.
“This would take away the strength of the U.S. position in promoting internet freedom,” said Juan Carlos Lara, executive director of Derechos Digitales, a Latin American digital rights group based in Chile. “It certainly wouldn’t strengthen its own argument for promoting a free, secure, stable and interoperable Internet.”
free internet
The American vision of an open internet dates back to the 1990s, when President Bill Clinton said it should be a “global free trade zone.” Governments – including the Biden White House – have made agreements to maintain the flow of data between the United States and Europe. And the State Department has condemned censorship, including Nigeria and Pakistan’s restrictions on access to Twitter, now known as X.
Now, driven by concerns that TikTok could send data to the Chinese government or serve as a conduit for Beijing’s propaganda, legislation passed in the House last month would require ByteDance to sell TikTok to a buyer approved by the U.S. government in six months.
If the company doesn’t find a buyer, app stores will have to stop offering the app for download, and web hosting companies won’t be able to host TikTok. (It remains to be seen whether the version of the measure likely to emerge alongside the aid package will include changes to the timing or other facets of the bill.)
Alert in other countries
The approval of the bill by the Chamber in March, and currently under analysis in the Senate, generated concern on a global level.
Gorbunov, a Russian blogger who goes by the name Stalin_Gulag, wrote on the social media service Telegram in March that banning TikTok could result in more censorship in his country.
“I don’t think the obvious needs to be said out loud, which is that when Russia blocks YouTube it will justify it precisely on the basis of this decision by the United States,” Gorbunov said.
Mishi Choudhary, a lawyer who founded the New Delhi-based Software Freedom Law Center, said the Indian government would also use the US ban to justify further crackdowns. According to her, India has already been involved in internet outages and banned TikTok in 2020 because of border conflicts with China.
“This not only gives them good reason to trust their past actions, but also encourages them to take similar future actions,” she said in an interview.
Lara of Derechos Digitales noted that countries like Venezuela and Nicaragua have already passed laws that give the government more control over online content. According to him, increased government control over the Internet was a “tempting idea” that “really risks materializing if such a thing is seen in places like the US”.
Digital rights experts argue that a forced sale or ban on TikTok could also make it harder for the U.S. government to ask other countries to adopt an Internet governed by international organizations.
China, in particular, has built a system of Internet censorship, arguing that each country should have more power to set the rules of the web. Beijing blocks access to products made by US technology giants, including search engine Google, Facebook and Instagram.
Other countries followed Beijing’s example. Russia blocks online content. India and Turkey have measures in place that allow them to demand the removal of social media posts.
Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project, said that if TikTok’s measure becomes law, “hypocrisy would be inevitable and the dividends for China would be enormous.” The ACLU is one of the most prominent groups opposing legislation related to TikTok.
Any ban or sale of TikTok in the U.S. would require authorities to explain why the move is different from other countries’ efforts to limit the flow of digital data in their territories, said Peter Harrell, former National Security Council senior director for economics. and international competitiveness of the Biden administration. The United States is pushing for data to flow freely between countries.
“I’m in favor of action against TikTok here, but we’re going to have to play catch-up on the diplomatic front,” Harrell said.
Still, other supporters of the legislation rejected the idea that action against TikTok would undermine U.S. Internet policy.
An aide to the House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, who was not authorized to discuss the law publicly, argued that the measure would benefit internet freedom by reducing the risk of China’s influence on TikTok.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the National Security Council said the United States “remains committed to an open Internet.”
“There is no tension between this commitment and our responsibility to safeguard our national security by preventing the specific threats posed by certain adversaries from putting Americans’ personal information at risk and manipulating their speech,” the spokesperson argued.
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