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The #TikTok deadline is today with no resolution in sight. In today's @WashPost, Sen. @MarkWarner and I look forward to a more multilateral, less erratic form of foreign policy when it comes to foreign technology threats. (thread) https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/12/cybersecurity-202-biden-administration-could-mean-reset-us-war-tiktok/
Trump's policy towards Chinese technology platforms has been defined by a lack of clarity at home and abroad. And TikTok is the poster child for erraticism undermining US interests. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/business/economy/trump-tiktok-china-business.html
I told @TonyaJoRiley @WashPost: “A multilateral approach that convenes democracies and builds understanding of shared threats would allow a more principled path forward." https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/12/cybersecurity-202-biden-administration-could-mean-reset-us-war-tiktok/
Grateful for Sen. @MarkWarner's continued leadership on these issues in Congress. His strategy? Set standards on where interacting w/China poses unacceptable national security risks, get allies on board, & find alternatives. via @greg_ip. It's a good one. https://www.wsj.com/articles/one-senators-strategy-for-containing-chinese-technological-dominance-11600866146
In my latest for @lawfareblog, I detail how a conference of democracies, modelled after the Prague 5G Security Conference that formed the basis of multilateral engagement on Huawei could take up this effort in the context of information threats.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/way-forward-us-policy-tiktok
https://www.lawfareblog.com/way-forward-us-policy-tiktok
It’s time to extend the multilateral spirit beyond the network layer to the data and content domain of the Future Internet to address apps like TikTok, WeChat, and the numerous Chinese technology platforms to come. https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/future-internet/
A State Department Bureau of Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies helmed by an asst. secretary—as recommended by the Cyberspace Solarium Commission—would be a key perch from which to lead this effort. https://www.solarium.gov/report
Britain’s D10 structure or a similar transnational alliance of democracies focused on technology policy, such as a D7, D20, or T12 could take up this mission. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-10-13/uniting-techno-democracies
The bottom line: there's an opportunity for a new Administration to bring rigor, seriousness, transparency, and multilateralism to questions that go to the very heart of democracies' success in this 21st century competition with autocracies. Erraticism isn't working.
