RESTRICT Act: Potential 20-Year Jail Time for TikTok Users Who Employ VPNs

Potential 20-Year Jail Time for TikTok Users: A sweeping bill introduced by a group of bipartisan senators, known as the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act or RESTRICT Act, has caught national attention in the US. It aims to give the Secretary of Commerce broad regulative power over tech produced in countries that have adversarial relations with the US, including China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela. While the bill does not mention TikTok by name, the senators who introduced the bill have repeatedly pointed to the surveillance fears that the app raises.
TikTok’s CEO Testifies in Front of Lawmakers
TikTok CEO, Shou Chew, testified in front of lawmakers that TikTok had never received a request from the Chinese government to hand over data on American users and that the company would never comply with one. However, Washington remains alert about the national security threats the Chinese-owned app poses.
Criminal Penalties and User Concerns
The bill’s criminal penalties, which include a fine up to a million dollars and/or imprisonment of up to 20 years, have caused some alarm among the bill’s observers, who have questioned whether some TikTok fanatics might face jail time for using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to get around the ban and access the app. However, a spokesperson for Senator Mark Warner, the bill’s sponsor, clarified that it would not apply to individual users.
Progressive Critics in Congress
While the RESTRICT Act seems widely supported across party lines, there is a small group of progressive critics in Congress, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She made her first TikTok video to address her opposition to the bill, stating that if such a significant decision as banning TikTok is made, then important information that the public deserves to know about why such a decision would be justified, should be shared.
Conclusion
The RESTRICT Act is widely viewed as an attempt by Congress to regulate Chinese tech companies like TikTok due to national security concerns. However, it remains to be seen how the bill will impact everyday social media users and whether it will ultimately result in a TikTok ban in the US.