The effort to keep other countries out of our conversations online and off is way

older than this Tik-Tok fight. From American public media, this is Marketplace.

In Washington, I'm Kimberly Adams in for Kyra's doll.

It's Wednesday, April 24th, good to have you with us.

As you've no doubt heard at this point, today President Joe Biden signed into law a $95 billion for an

aid package including a provision that would force the owner of Tik-Toc to sell

the video app or see it banned in the United States.

The app's Chinese parent company, Bight Dance, now has several months to complete a sale.

In response, Tik-Tok called the measure unconstitutional and says the company will challenge it in court.

Now it's not every day Congress takes aim at a specific foreign-owned company over

national security concerns, But limiting ownership of firms in the US,

especially in telecommunications, has a long history, as Marketplace's Henry Epp reports.

By long history, we mean like all the way back to the founding of the United States, says Zephyr

Teachout, a professor at Fordham Law School.

The focus and anxiety about foreign corruption and foreign powers was really

central at the Constitutional Convention. The founders she says were really

concerned that foreign countries would try to meddle in the US so they passed

measures including the

emoluments clause which prohibits office holders from taking gifts from

foreign officials. Over the decades the government restricted foreign businesses

from taking part in energy, shipping, and telecommunications.

In 1912, the Radio Act was passed, which prohibited foreign ownership of radio stations.

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