Under the guise of curbing data collection by foreign governments, the RESTRICT Act (Senate Bill 686) would set the stage for a restriction on the use of TikTok, but not do nearly enough to truly protect our private information. Due to undefined mitigation measures coupled with a vague enforcement provision, the bill could also criminalize common practices like using a VPN or side-loading to install a prohibited app.There are legitimate data privacy concerns about social media platforms, but this bill is a distraction from real progress on privacy. Tell Congress to stop giving more power to the Administration under the guise of undefined and unspecified “national security threats” and instead to focus on comprehensive consumer data privacy legislation that will have a real impact. Our data must be protected no matter what platform it’s on—TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else that’s profiting from our private information. This would also limit the availability of this data to foreign adversaries.
