Last week, President Trump announced a third enforcement deferment of a federal law banning the social media application TikTok, despite the law lacking provisions granting the president the authority to do so more than once. In a new insight, Director of Technology and Innovation Policy Jeffrey Westling explores the harms this decision creates for TikTok, the companies that host the app, and American consumers – as well as the risk of government censorship.

He concludes:

Congress should take action. It should either repeal the law, making it legal for TikTok to continue its operation in the United States, or hold the Trump Administration accountable for the lack of enforcement. As it stands, TikTok exists in a regulatory purgatory, and American consumers and businesses are worse off for it.

Read the analysis