A number of influential conservatives warned a bill that could ultimately ban the social media app TikTok in the U.S. could have unintended consequences after it was passed in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
One went as far as to describe the bill as a “Trojan horse” for other unforeseen bans.
The bipartisan Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act would force TikTok’s Chinese Community Party-linked owner ByteDance to divest from the app within six months or see removal from American app stores.
The idea is to keep the app available but to free it from potential Chinese influence and espionage concerns.
The bill would give the executive branch an option to force services that are owned by the country’s adversaries and used by Americans to either sell them or see them banned.
It passed 352-65 in the House on Wednesday and has found support from the White House.
U.S. House PASSES bill forcing on requiring TikTok to divest from China or face U.S. ban, 352-65. pic.twitter.com/K8NrCw50ti
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 13, 2024
Only 15 Republicans and 50 Democrats voted against the legislation.
Should TikTok be banned?
But before and immediately after the House voted to pass the bill, a number of powerful voices in the conservative movement shared their concerns that it could ultimately chill free speech or give the president too much power:
If you think this isn’t a Trojan horse and will only apply to TikTok and foreign-adversary social media companies, then contemplate why someone thought it was important to get a very specific exclusion for their internet based business written into the bill: pic.twitter.com/LnHsmEgtt9
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 12, 2024
I’m currently on the floor managing the debate AGAINST the TikTok ban. This is my opening statement. Tune in to CSPAN live now for more. pic.twitter.com/yFqdYt4Pxd
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 13, 2024
🧵2/2
They want to ban TikTok because it’s “owned by China”
Not true.
60% of the company is owned by US and international investors.
20% is owned by the company founders.
20% is owned by company employees, including over 7,000 Americans.
The CEO of TikTok is from…
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 13, 2024
I don’t use TikTok. I find it unwise to do so. But after careful review, I’m a no on this legislation.
This bill infringes on the First Amendment and grants undue power to the administrative state. pic.twitter.com/oSpmYhCrV8
— Rep. Dan Bishop (@RepDanBishop) March 13, 2024
Tucker Carlson posted, “In a classified briefing this afternoon, attended by officials from the Biden Justice Department, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed that Elon committed ‘election interference’ in 2022 by ‘changing the algorithms’ on X to alter the results of the midterms that year.
“Not coincidentally, the anti-TikTok legislation now being debated on the Hill would allow the federal government to force the sale of any social media platform that interferes in elections. Just so you know what’s coming in 2025.”
In a classified briefing this afternoon, attended by officials from the Biden Justice Department, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed that Elon committed “election interference” in 2022 by “changing the algorithms” on X to alter the results of the midterms that year.
Not…
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) March 12, 2024
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that he and others in the upper chamber would take up the bill once it had left the House, CNN reported.
The bill’s authors, Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois and Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin have both said the issue of China’s potential influence over its 170 million American users needs to be addressed.
“This is my message to TikTok: Break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users,” Gallagher said in a statement last week.
“America’s foremost adversary has no business controlling a dominant media platform in the United States,” he concluded. “TikTok’s time in the United States is over unless it ends its relationship with CCP-controlled ByteDance.”
