The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Tuesday he opposes a Republican bill that would give President Joe Biden the power to ban the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok and other apps, Reuters reported.

On Tuesday, the panel opened debate on a measure requested by Republican committee chairman Michael McCaul to give the administration new powers to ban ByteDance, an app used by more than 100 million Americans. That committee is expected to vote on the measure later Tuesday.

“Many Americans don’t realize that one of (China’s) biggest surveillance efforts is quietly collecting personal data from their pockets,” McCaul said, referring to TikTok.

Congressman Gregory Meeks said he strongly opposes the legislation, saying it would “damage our alliances around the world, attract more companies to China, destroy jobs here in the United States, and undermine the core American values ​​of free speech and free enterprise “.

The ban must be passed by the full House and Senate before the president can sign it into law. (photo: Dreamstime)