On Wednesday, the House approved a bill that could make TikTok illegal in the whole country if the company’s Chinese owner doesn’t sell it. Lawmakers are worried that the company’s ownership is a threat to national security.
The bill was approved by 352 votes to 65. It will now go to the Senate, but it’s not clear if it will be accepted.
TikTok is a company owned by a Chinese firm called ByteDance Ltd. It has over 150 million users in the United States.
The lawmakers believe that ByteDance must do what the Chinese government tells it to do. They are worried that the Chinese government could ask for TikTok’s users’ information in the US whenever it wants. The concern comes from Chinese laws that force groups to help gather intelligence for national security.
Rep said that TikTok has been given a clear option. Cathy McMorris Rodgers from Washington. Choose to operate independently in the United States, away from your parent company ByteDance, or choose to support the CCP and deal with the outcomes. TikTok gets to decide.
The bill passing the House is just the beginning. The Senate has to agree to the rule for it to become a law, and the lawmakers in the Senate said they will carefully look at it. Senator Chuck Schumer, who leads the majority party in the Senate, said he needs to talk to the right people to figure out how the bill will move forward.
President Joe Biden said that if Congress approves the proposal, he will put his signature on it.
The House vote is going to start a new fight between lawmakers and the tech industry. Congress people have often disagreed with tech companies and their big impacts, and have argued with the leaders of these companies about how they do things. Lawmakers are focusing on TikTok, which is used by many young people, just before an election.
Both political parties opposed the bill. Some Republicans think the US should tell people if their personal information might not be safe or if there’s fake news. Some Democrats are worried about how stopping the app would affect the millions of people in the US who use it, especially those who have their own businesses.
“The solution to authoritarianism is not to become more authoritarian,” stated Rep. Tom McClintock, a Republican from California. We should not fight propaganda with oppression. Let’s be careful and go slower on this really steep and slippery slope before we make a mistake.
Before the House vote, a high-ranking national security official in the Biden administration had a private meeting with lawmakers on Tuesday to talk about TikTok and its potential impact on national security. Politicians are trying to find the right balance between keeping people safe and not stopping people from expressing themselves online.
Rep said that we have been careful about making TikTok sell off without giving power to the government to control content or go after American companies. Mike Gallagher, the person who wrote the bill, as he came out of the meeting.
TikTok has always said it can’t be used by the Chinese government. The company said it has never given US user data to China and won’t do it if asked. So far, the US government has not proven that TikTok gave this information to China. The platform is used by about 170 million people in the US.
The security meeting didn’t seem to convince many people, instead making both sides more sure of their opinions.
Rep said we have to stop our biggest enemy from getting too involved in our country for our safety. Nick LaLota had a surgery called RNY.
Repneeds to be replaced at the beginning of the sentence for the sentence to make sense. Robert Garcia, a politician from California, said that he has not been given any information that proves TikTok is a danger to national security. “He said my opinion hasn’t changed after the meeting. ”
Garcia said it’s crazy to ban entrepreneurs, small business owners, and the main way young people communicate.
“We didn’t hear anything new or special about TikTok in today’s confidential meeting. ” Representative said that these were things that occur on every social media platform. Sara Jacobs, who is a representative from California, is a member of the Democratic party.
Republican leaders have acted fast to bring up the bill after it was introduced last week. The House committee voted unanimously, with 50 votes, even though they received a lot of calls from TikTok users asking them to stop the legislation. Some offices also turn off their phones because they are being overwhelmed.
Politicians from both parties want to deal with China on many problems. The House created a special group to deal with things connected to China. Schumer told the committee leaders to start working with Republicans on a bill to compete with China that both parties can agree on.
Senators are willing to consider the bill but they suggested that they don’t want to move too quickly.
Senator said that for him, it’s not a good thing that you’re progressing quickly in technology because the past shows you’ve made many mistakes. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon.
The Republicans in the House are moving forward with the new law and are also starting to disagree with former President Donald Trump as he tries to become president again.
Trump has said he doesn’t like the plan. On Monday, he said he still thinks TikTok is a security risk for the country, but he doesn’t want to ban the app because it would help Facebook, which he is still angry at for the election.
As president, Trump tried to stop TikTok with a rule. He said Chinese-owned apps were a danger to the US. But the courts stopped the rule after TikTok said it would violate free speech and fair treatment rights.