Pallone Applauds House Passage of Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Americans’ Online Data from Foreign Adversaries

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Contact: Mary Werden 

202-225-4671 

 April 20, 2024 

Pallone Applauds House Passage of Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Americans’ Online Data from Foreign Adversaries 

 "Bill Includes Pallone’s Bipartisan “Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act,” Which He Introduced Earlier this Year"

Washington, DC – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) today applauded House passage of the 21st Century Peace through Strength Act. The bill would create a framework to force divestment of TikTok from its Chinese Communist Party-controlled parent company ByteDance so that Americans can continue to use the platform without the risk that Chinese Communist officials would be able to use the app to undermine our national security and privacy. 

The package also includes the “Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act,” which was authored by Pallone. It would prohibit data brokers from selling or otherwise making available Americans’ sensitive information to the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, Russia, and Iran or entities controlled by them. 

 “National security experts are sounding the alarm and warning that our foreign adversaries are using every tool at their disposal, including apps like TikTok, to amass troves of sensitive data about Americans. The laws in China allow the Chinese Communist Party to compel companies, like TikTok, to share data with them on demand whether the companies want to or not. We simply cannot allow this to continue,” Pallone said. “This bill also takes decisive action to mitigate our foreign adversaries’ ability to collect Americans’ data and use it against us. Most Americans are unaware that data brokers compile dossiers about their interests, beliefs, finances, and movements. This package includes a bipartisan bill I authored that protects Americans by barring data brokers from selling sensitive information about them to our adversaries. I’m grateful to my colleagues in Congress, who worked to get this bill across the finish line.” 

Pallone serves as the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over consumer protection and technology policy. His floor speech in support of the bill is available here.