Abstract

On August 6, 2020 President Trump issued an executive order under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) prohibiting all interactions between American citizens and the Chinese-based company ByteDance Ltd, essentially banning the use of the popular app TikTok in the United States. Questions surrounding the legality of this ban emerged immediately. While the Biden Administration reversed Trump’s order, President Biden himself has implemented his own order regarding foreign developed technology, suggesting these cybersecurity issues will continue to persist. The US is not the first country to attempt to prohibit its citizens from using an app created and owned by an out of state developer for security reasons. China and other countries have successfully enacted laws to keep certain foreign apps out of their citizens' hands. To determine the implications of executing these bans and whether they are justified, one must look at the various actions countries around the world have taken in response to perceived foreign technology threats and the costs incurred by those countries to enforce a ban on such perceived threats. This note explores the possible consequences of President Trump’s attempted TikTok ban by looking at what the effect has been when other countries have cited national security concerns to ban foreign-developed technology. First, the question of whether a US president has the power and legal justification to ban TikTok will be addressed. Many people have raised questions about the legality of the Trump administration’s actions, including TikTok who took legal action against the government after the ban, claiming the administration lacked the justification to ban the app. Next, this note will delve into what a ban might mean for the future of the United States by analyzing the impact of bans on foreign technology in China, India, and Germany. Finally, the possible implications of an outright ban of foreign technologies in the United States will be hypothesized based on studies of countries that have banned certain foreign technology. Draconian cybersecurity laws that keep out foreign technology can harm international cooperation, prevent the spread of ideas and information in violation of the right to expression , and allow countries to collect data from their citizens that amounts to a privacy violation.