WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden yesterday issued an executive order mandating a vast review of “apps controlled by foreign adversaries” in order to assess national security and privacy issues.
The executive order substitutes an earlier order by Donald Trump that only specifically targeted China’s TikTok and WeChat, seeking a U.S. ban for them.
Biden revoked that narrow order, which had been issued reactively by the former president, and expanded the scope of the analysis to include all foreign-based companies, which include many in the adult space.
The new order, the Wall Street Journal reported, “doesn’t target any companies specifically, but creates the potential for an even broader crackdown on Chinese-owned apps than the Trump administration orders it replaces by mandating a review of all software applications with potential ties to countries such as China.”
According to the White House, Biden’s Commerce Department was “authorized to begin that review immediately.”
The Language of Biden's Executive Order
The language of Biden's executive order is broad and does not specify whether the review is specific to native apps or web (browser) apps, referring instead to “certain connected software applications."
The executive order's wording "directs the use of a criteria-based decision framework and rigorous, evidence-based analysis to address the risks posed by ICTS transactions involving software applications that are designed, developed, manufactured or supplied by persons that are owned or controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction of a foreign adversary, including the People’s Republic of China, that may present an undue or unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States and the American people.”
It also "directs the Department of Commerce, in consultation with other U.S. departments and agencies, to make recommendations to protect against harm from the sale, transfer of, or access to sensitive personal data, including personally identifiable information and genetic information — to include large data repositories — to persons owned or controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of, foreign adversaries."
"Additionally, the Department of Commerce will make recommendations for additional executive and legislative actions to further address the risk associated with foreign adversary-connected software applications.”
