House Republicans want a Chinese company called ByteDance to sell TikTok or they won’t be allowed to operate in the United States even though former President Donald Trump is against this idea, they are still pushing for it.
The leaders of the house have planned to vote on the decision on Wednesday. A Republican aide from Congress who can’t talk publicly said that the plan is still the same, and lawmakers haven’t really opposed the bill.
House Republicans are considering voting for a bill that goes against what the former president wanted. Speaker Mike Johnson and others strongly support the bill and changing their minds now would be a big deal. Last week, Johnson said it’s a very important plan that both political parties agree on to deal with China, our biggest enemy, which is actively trying to harm our economy and security.
Trump still thinks TikTok is a danger to national security but doesn’t want to ban it because it would help Facebook, which he is still angry with for losing the 2020 election.
“Honestly, many people on TikTok really enjoy it. ” Trump said that many young kids really like TikTok and would be upset if they couldn’t use it. He also thinks that TikTok has some good things but also some bad things. I don’t like that without TikTok, Facebook will become more powerful. I think Facebook is against the people, and so are many media companies.
“He said he’s not trying to make Facebook twice as big when he looks at it. ” “I believe that Facebook has had a negative impact on our country, especially during elections. ”
Trump keeps saying that Facebook did the wrong things during the 2020 election. He still won’t admit that he lost to President Joe Biden. This means that Mark Zuckerberg and his wife gave at least US$400 million to two nonprofit groups. These groups then gave the money to state and local governments to help them run the 2020 election during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The money given to the campaign was allowed by law and was used to pay for things like gear to handle mail-in ballots and drive-thru voting spots.
TikTok, a popular app for sharing videos, has become a big topic in the 2024 presidential election. The platform has around 170 million users in the U. S, most of whom are younger. Both political parties are trying hard to get the support of these younger users before the general election in November. It is getting more difficult for political campaigns to reach younger voters because they are not watching as much TV as before.
Biden’s 2024 campaign started using TikTok last month, even though he has worries about its safety. He banned it from federal devices and supports a law that could ban it completely.
The House is thinking about a law that would make the Chinese company ByteDance sell TikTok and its other apps within six months to avoid a ban in the whole country. The law also makes a way for the president to stop people from using other apps that might be dangerous to the country.
TikTok said last week that the bill is a complete ban on their app, even though the authors are trying to make it seem different. “This law will take away the rights of 170 million Americans and stop 5 million small businesses from using a platform they need to grow and make jobs. ”
Heritage Action, a group that supports conservative ideas, asked lawmakers to vote for the bill. They said they would keep track of how lawmakers voted and use that to grade them.
“The law sets a rule for social media companies to follow: They should not be under the influence of a foreign enemy for the sake of national security,” the group stated.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia and a friend of Trump, said she is still learning about the bill. Representative Scott Perry, a Republican from Pennsylvania, also a supporter, said he is concerned that the bill could accidentally put other similar businesses in danger. He said he didn’t talk to the president about it.
Representative Michael McCaul, the leader of the Republicans in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said he still believes things will go well in the House.
“It will sail, and then the Senate will decide,” McCaul said. “The White House said they will sign it into law. ” I believe this is a really good move.
As president, Trump tried to stop TikTok from being used in the US because he thought it could be a danger to the country. But the courts stopped this from happening because TikTok argued that it would go against people’s rights to free speech and fair treatment.
When asked if he still thinks the app is a danger to national security, Trump said on Monday, “I do believe it is. ” We need to focus on protecting the privacy and data rights of the American people.
“But,” he continued, “you have the same problem with Facebook and many other companies. Some American companies are not really American. ” They sell things in China. And if China wants something from them, they will give it to them. “So that could cause a security problem for the whole country. ”
In 2022, Biden stopped federal government workers from using TikTok on their work devices, unless it’s for law enforcement, national security, or security research.
He recently made a rule that lets the Department of Justice and other government groups stop large amounts of personal information from being sent to certain countries, like China.
The FBI and the Federal Communications Commission said that the company that owns TikTok, called ByteDance, might give user information like browsing history and location to the government of China. TikTok said it has never done that and won’t do it even if someone asks them to. The United States The government also hasn’t shown proof of that happening.
Trump said he likes the app for the first time in a post on his new social media site, Truth Social, last week. “If TikTok goes away, Facebook and its owner will make twice as much money. ” “I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, to do better,” he wrote. “They are definitely an enemy of the people. ”
In the interview, Trump said he had not talked about the company with Jeff Yass, who invested in TikTok and supports the Republican party with a lot of money. Trump said that they had recently met for a very short amount of time.