Bill seeks ban on ‘adversary-allied apps’; author eyes Tiktok

A bill banning “foreign adversary-controlled” applications in the Philippines such as TikTok has been filed in the House of Representatives.

House Deputy Majority Leader Bienvenido Abante of Manila made the proposal under his House Bill 10489 which will prohibit app stores and internet hosting services from enabling distribution, maintenance, or updating of a “foreign adversary-controlled” application.

The bill defines a foreign adversary controlled application as a website, desktop application, mobile application, or augmented or immersive technology application that is operated, directly or indirectly (including through a parent company, subsidiary, or affiliate), by a covered company that is (1) is controlled by a foreign adversary, and (2) that is determined by the President to present a significant threat to the national security of the Philippines.

Abante’s bill authorizes the President to identify countries that are foreign adversaries of the Philippines, but the same measure also defines a  foreign adversary country as any country identified by the Chief Executive as "having interests adversarial to that of the Philippines, in terms of threats to national security and our territorial integrity."

"With the rising tension between China and the Philippines, the government must take positive preemptive action to ensure that we protect our citizens from manipulation and misinformation campaigns using social media––from any foreign adversary country,” Abante said.

The Manila lawmaker said that should the measure become a law, it will cover TikTok, which currently has 49.9 million active users in the Philippines. 

TikTok’s parent company is ByteDance, which Abante says "reveals a connection to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese government that cannot be overlooked." 

His proposal, Abante said, is merely regulatory rather than targeting the content of speech.

“The provisions in this proposed bill focus on national security threats and an application’s ownership by a foreign adversary. The primary reason why I am proposing this bill is for our country to be watchful of foreign adversary countries infiltrating our communication infrastructure and making a mockery of our cybersecurity and intelligence,” Abante said.

Tiktok, Abante said, collects personal data from its users and subscribers, and it “can easily transmit these data to the Chinese government." 

"We need to take a preemptive action to prevent the clear and present danger of foreign adversary controlled companies operating in the Philippines with the purpose and capability of harvesting data from unsuspecting subscribers," he added.

Several countries such as France, United States, among others, have banned TikTok on government employees' phones due to security concerns. 

GMA News Online has sought the reaction of Bytedance and will post it as soon as available. —LDF, GMA Integrated News