The House is advancing bipartisan legislation that would ban TikTok in the U.S. over national security concerns related to its Chinese ownership.
The bill unanimously passed out of committee and is gaining broader House support.
“It’s an important, bipartisan measure to take on China, our largest geopolitical foe, which is actively undermining our economy and security,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said.
It would require ByteDance to divest TikTok within 180 days or the app would be prohibited.
“This bill is an outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much the authors try to disguise it. This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs,” TikTok stated.
Proponents argue TikTok could be used by China as a propaganda tool or to surveil Americans.
However, TikTok and free speech advocates counter it would violate First Amendment rights.
“Today, it’s about our bill and it’s about intimidating members considering that bill, but tomorrow it could be misinformation or lies about an election, about a war, about any number of things,” Rep. Mike Gallagher said. “This is why we can’t take a chance on having a dominant news platform in America controlled or owned by a company that is behold to the Chinese Communist Party, our foremost adversary.”
“Through this access, the app is able to collect nearly every data point imaginable, from people’s location, to what they search on their devices, who they are connecting with, and other forms of sensitive information,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers said.
The White House supports the goal of addressing security risks but wants to ensure any legislation is legally sound before Biden would endorse it.
“Once it gets to a place where we think .. it’s on legal standing and it’s in a place where it can get out of Congress, then the president would sign it,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
“We are going to try to meet the America people where they are,” Jean-Pierre said. “We are trying to reach everyone. The president is the president for all Americans .. it doesn’t mean that we’re not going to try to figure out how to protect our national security.”
As the bill moves forward, it faces counterarguments that it amounts to an outright ban rather than forced divestment as authors intend.
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