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Angel Mae Glutz runs a fine art and tattoo studio called Coven in Jacksonville, Florida. To promote her business and bring in clientele from all over, Glutz says she uses a variety of social media platforms, including TikTok.

Facebook and Instagram and TikTokhave been incredible, she said. I moved a lot in my 20s and 30s, and those platforms made it a lot easier for my clientele to follow me.

But entrepreneurs like Glutz who rely on social media for their businesses could wind up as collateral damage in the ongoing battle against China-based TikTok on Capitol Hill. The White House has already banned TikToks use on government devices and lawmakers are weighing legislation to limit communication platforms and tech owned by foreign adversaries.

The potential for a blanket ban on a global tech player like TikTok, with more than 150 million users in the U.S., could have significant ripple effects on the influencers and small businesses that generate revenue from the app.

Social media sites like TikTok and Instagram, among others, have come under fire for data privacy issues. Some are now pushing back via grassroots marketing campaigns, running commercials on platforms like Hulu and YouTube that show their positive impact on Americans.

In the TikTok Sparks Good campaign, the company shares user testimonials, such as one from a member of the Air National Guard who uses TikTok to post informational videos to the military. More recently, Instagram launched a TV ad showing a young hockey player posting videos of his practices on Instagram, as his mother helps manage his screen time and any negative comments.

Much of this ad spend is a response to the U.S. governments scrutiny of social media sites, ramped up lately due to the latest string of broader data leaks. For example, authorities are still investigating the months-long leakage of classified military documents later publicized by Russia on social media sites. The Federal Trade Commission is pursuing a wide-ranging investigation of Twitter in connection with alleged violations of FTC privacy rules.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are weighing a proposed bill, called the Restrict Act (Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology), which would ban any communications tech that the U.S. government sees as a security threat produced by six foreign adversaries: China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela.

The Restrict Act, though controversial, has now garnered bipartisan support from 25 senators and is backed by the White House. Its early in the legislative process; the bill still needs a full mark-up in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation before it can proceed.

The bill would put the Department of Commerce in charge of regulating and blocking communication technology made by foreign adversaries that pose a security threat.

The threat that everyone is talking about is TikTok, and how it could enable surveillance by the Chinese Communist Party, or facilitate the spread of malign influence campaigns in the U.S., said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) in a March 7 announcement of a bipartisan bill. We need a comprehensive, risk-based approach that proactively tackles sources of potentially dangerous technology before they gain a foothold in America, so we arent playing Whac-A-Mole and scrambling to catch up once theyre already ubiquitous.

Leaders in the House have voiced support for such legislation, with some wanting to ban TikTok outright, though that would be very difficult considering that millions of people in the U.S. (including small business owners) use it daily. The White House took some action on February 27 by giving federal agencies 30 days to erase TikTok from all government devices.

The Restrict Act was introduced the same month that TikToks CEO, Shou Chew, testified before Congress. He argued that TikTok is not under the control of its China-based parent, ByteDance.

TikTok, as a U.S. company incorporated in the United States, is subject to the laws of the United States, Chew said in his testimony on March 23 before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. TikTok has never shared, or received a request to share, U.S. user data with the Chinese government.

TikTok has significantly ramped up its privacy policies and security in recent years, as have other social media platforms, including Instagram and Facebook. Chew added that TikTok has begun storing data from the U.S. on a server farm in Texas, a project expected to cost $1.5 billion.

Within the year, he said, all protected U.S. data will be under the protection of U.S. law and under the control of the U.S.-led security team. Under this structure, there is no way for the Chinese government to access it or compel access to it.

TikToks privacy issue cant be fully resolved using familiar protective measures, such as using virtual private networks (VPNs). Masking the users IP address, as VPNs do, is of limited use in blocking surveillance of device-specific data. One reason is because certain types of data are drawn from device functions like Wi-Fi location tracking and GPS, not a browser or app.

When the Restrict Act first came out, some critics raised concerns that the bill could authorize the Commerce Department to levy a $1 million fine against individuals who use a VPN to access TikTok in the event the app were banned. But most of those concerns have been resolved, and the text of the bill never mentions VPN.

A spokesperson for Warner has been quoted by at least one media outlet as saying the legislation is aimed at companies like TikTok that create systemic risks to the United Statess national securitynot at individual users.

Many users of social apps like TikTok and Instagram say there are privacy and block options they can apply to feel more in-control and safe with what they choose to post. There are also many tutorials by these companies, and users of the platform explaining how to control the settings. Glutz recalled how a younger user of TikTok, whom she was tattooing, showed her how to set up controls so that only followers of a certain age could see his post about getting the tattoo.

I actually get comfort in using social media from my younger clientsthey literally grew up on social media. The younger generation understands the safety equipment associated with these apps, Glutz says. Its the same way a ship captain understands the boating equipment better than anyone else.

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TikTok, Other Social Media Face U.S. Roadblocks; Companies And ... - Forbes