A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced a bill Wednesday that would require cell phone apps to specify the country in which they were developed.
The American Privacy Protection Act, sponsored by Republican Federal Senator Rick Scott of Florida and Democratic Federal Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, would require the Federal Trade Commission to direct all entities that operate apps to disclose where those apps are developed and where their data is stored.
Senator Scott tweeted, “Apps like TikTok and WeChat, which are supported by our adversaries, pose a huge security risk. Knowing which country they come from is the first step to protecting Americans’ data and security.”
In a statement, Senator Cortez Masto said, “As smartphones play an increasingly large role in the daily lives of Nevadans, consumers are increasingly sharing their personal information with app developers from unknown sources – sometimes from Russia, China or elsewhere companies, they may share the personal data of Nevada people with those governments.”
Prior to that, President Trump signed an executive order prohibiting U.S. persons or entities from engaging in any transactions with TikTok and WeChat for reasons of protecting U.S. national security. The U.S. Department of Commerce later issued a public notice based on the executive order, requiring U.S. app stores to remove TikTok and WeChat from their shelves as of Sept. 20 and prohibiting WeChat from making other forms of transactions, such as transfers or payments, within the United States.
Oracle and Walmart entered into a pending cooperation agreement with TikTok’s parent company, Byte, and the ban on TikTok was delayed by the administration, while a U.S. federal judge issued a temporary ruling blocking WeChat’s enforcement, so the two Chinese apps can continue to operate in the U.S. for now.
Earlier this year, Senator Scott and Democratic Federal Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin also introduced a bill that would require all products sold online to prominently identify the product’s origin and the seller’s country.
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