The action reflects growing concern about China’s ability to access the private data that Americans provide to mobile apps and other services, which is certain to escalate tensions with Beijing.
President Biden signed an executive order on Thursday to strengthen the federal government’s ability to thwart Chinese technology investments in the country and restrict its access to personal information about citizens. This move is sure to ratchet up tensions with Beijing.
The secretive Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States, which was established by Congress nearly 50 years ago, will be more tightly focused thanks to the new order.
For many years, the committee’s authority was largely restricted to prohibiting foreign acquisitions of American companies that might have a direct bearing on national security, such as a military contractor.
The committee is instructed to determine whether a proposed deal involves the purchase of a company that has access to Americans’ sensitive data and whether a foreign company or government could use that information. This is the most extensive part of Mr. Biden’s new order, and it may also be the most significant component in the months to come.
That wording reflects the growing concern Americans have regarding China’s ability to access the private data they provide to mobile apps and other services.
The popular video app TikTok, which is owned by China and about which detractors are concerned that the Chinese government may obtain user data, is reportedly already under the scrutiny of the CFIUS committee.
The Biden administration hasn’t said much up to this point regarding its review of TikTok. A hasty attempt was made in the final months of the Trump administration to force TikTok’s American operations to be sold to a group of American and other Western companies, but it failed.
Evidence that TikTok employees in China had access to information about Americans who signed up for the service has surfaced in recent months.
Although the company has not publicly disclosed any evidence of doing so, Chinese national security laws may require it to do so.
The question at hand is whether requiring the transfer of all that data to servers located in the United States would actually solve that issue or would merely mitigate it.
Additionally, there are still unanswered questions regarding the creators of the algorithms used to monitor the online interests and behaviors of Americans.
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