'Patriot Act on Steroids': Bill to Ban TikTok Could Lead to 'Sweeping Surveillance and Censorship' in U.S., Critics Say

'Patriot Act on Steroids': Bill to Ban TikTok Could Lead to 'Sweeping Surveillance and Censorship' in U.S., Critics Say | 19 May 2023 | U.S. lawmakers are considering a bill that would grant the U.S. government vast new powers to surveil and censor U.S. citizens. The RESTRICT Act -- the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act, or Senate Bill 686 -- would give the federal government new powers ostensibly to mitigate national security threats posed by technology products from countries that the U.S. deems adversarial. The bill would grant the U.S. secretary of commerce the authority to "identify, deter, disrupt, prevent, prohibit, investigate, or otherwise mitigate" national security risks associated with technology linked to a foreign adversary. [CLG Founder] Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D., author of Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom, agreed. He told The Defender: "The RESTRICT Act is not only aimed at the activities and expression of companies and individuals from nations deemed inimical to U.S. interests; it is a backdoor means through which the federal government can oversee the opinions and activities of all U.S. citizens, increasing the state’s powers of surveillance and abrogating citizen's first amendment rights."