Federal Communications Commission chairman Jessica Rosenworcel shared her clear stance on a potential TikTok ban during a luncheon at the Paley Center for Media on Tuesday (April 16), which was attended by media industry insiders from companies like Hearst, AARP and New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ communications team. In a Q&A session with Nick Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, Rosenworcel said that if the House of Representatives passes the bill and makes it to President Joe Biden’s desk, “He should absolutely sign it.”
“For decades, we’ve had policies in the Communications Act that would prevent, for instance, a Chinese national or a Chinese company from owning our nation’s broadcast television stations,” Rosenworcel said. “And yet here we have something arguably among the newer forms of media, and there’s zero oversight. I think that’s stunning.”
Other FCC leaders have been vocal about restricting access to TikTok. In 2022, Rosenworcel’s colleague Brendan Carr wrote an open letter asking Google and Apple to ban TikTok from their app stores.
“TikTok is not just another video app,” Carr posted on X. “That’s the sheep’s clothing.”
TikTok is not just another video app.
That’s the sheep’s clothing.It harvests swaths of sensitive data that new reports show are being accessed in Beijing.
I’ve called on @Apple & @Google to remove TikTok from their app stores for its pattern of surreptitious data practices. pic.twitter.com/Le01fBpNjn
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) June 28, 2022
Millions of Americans are waiting to see if the U.S. government will follow through on banning the popular video-sharing app. The proposal is that TikTok must break away from its Chinese owner, BtyeDance, or become inaccessible in the United States. President Biden has already said that if a bill banning TikTok comes to him, he will sign it. This would also mean stopping the TikTok page his team created for Biden’s reelection campaign. At the moment, the bill appears to be stalled out after the House voted to pass it.
TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, has begun his own campaign to keep TikTok in the U.S. The executive rarely makes public appeals, but he took to the app in March, asking for American TikTok users to speak out against the potential ban.
“I encourage you to keep sharing your stories,” Chew said in the TikTok video. “Share them with your friends, share them with your family. Share them with your senators. Protect your constitutional rights.”
Rosenworcel feels that the FCC regulations for data privacy are the “gold standard” for traditional telecommunications. However, she acknowledged a clear gap between the rapid development of digital media and other emerging technologies, like A.I., and the federal government’s capabilities.
“I think that those protections are really solid. We have to figure out how to extend them to a digital age where so much is unprotected,” Rosenworcel said.
TikTok’s fate is not in the hands of the FCC, but policies around net neutrality, data privacy and internet connectivity fall under Rosenworcel’s leadership. She is currently advocating for the Commission to reinstate net neutrality rules that bring back a national standard for private internet providers, including prohibiting them from making customers pay extra money to access high-speed internet. Former chairman Ajit Pai repealed those protections. The vote to bring the rules back is on April 25.
This story was updated to clarify that the House of Representatives passed the bill which could potentially ban TikTok.