US lawmakers introduce bill to penalize app stores which list TikTok

On March 5, US lawmakers introduced a bill to penalize app stores in the country from listing TikTok or any other application developed or provided by TikTok’s parent company ByteDance. The bill, called “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” classifies ByteDance as a foreign adversary. It defines a foreign adversary as—

• a company or entity domiciled or headquartered in a foreign adversary country (this includes China, North Korea, Russia and Iran)
• any entity in which individuals or entities from a foreign adversary country own a minimum stake of 20%
• a person subject to the directions/control of a foreign adversary country.

Any app store or web hosting service that fails to comply with the bill will be fined any amount that results from…