Washington. One of the biggest risks to TikTok’s hugely successful U.S. operations, a bill that could result in the social media app’s nationwide prohibition was passed by the Senate on Tuesday night by a bipartisan vote of 79–18.
Not wanting to outright outlaw the app that approximately 170 million Americans use, some lawmakers contend that ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, which is based in China, should have the final say in matters of policy.
As per the legislation signed into law by President Biden on Wednesday, ByteDance has a year to sell its stake in TikTok in order to maintain the platform’s operations in the United States. However, a forced sale is not acceptable to the Chinese government, which must approve any sale. In the event of a divestment, the company would be permanently barred from U.S. app stores and web hosting providers. An anticipated legal dispute may cause the timeline to extend.
We are not attempting to silence you. The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, acknowledged that many Americans were dubious of the legislation during a floor speech on Tuesday. “This is not a ban of a service you appreciate,” Warner said. They haven’t ultimately seen what Congress has, in my opinion.
Why is Congress seeking to outlaw TikTok?
Despite previous attempts to widely restrict the video-sharing app’s usage failing, lawmakers have attempted to regulate it due to their suspicions about its ties to China. American officials have cautioned time and time again that TikTok poses a threat to national security because the Chinese government may use it as a spying tool or as a weapon to subtly influence public opinion in the United States by censoring or amplifying certain content.
According to U.S. officials, there is cause for concern as Chinese national security laws mandate that organizations assist in intelligence gathering. In March, House Intelligence Committee members were briefed by FBI Director Christopher Wray on how the Chinese government could use software to compromise American devices.
Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Saturday before the lower chamber passed the bill as part of a larger foreign aid package, calling the app “a spy balloon in Americans’ phones” that is “used to surveil and exploit Americans’ personal information.”
According to Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, lawmakers have been informed in classified briefings about “how rivers of data are being collected and shared in ways that are not well-aligned with American security interests.”
The top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee and senator from Florida, Sen. Marco Rubio, stated last month that “a lot of young people” who primarily get their news from TikTok could be influenced by the Chinese government.
Rubio declared, “It’s a matter of national security.”
Politico first revealed the legislation, and Warner stated on Tuesday that it demonstrates “how dearly [Chinese President] Xi Jinping is invested in this product” because Chinese diplomats are lobbying congressional staff against it.
“A stunning confirmation of the value the Chinese government places on its ability to access Americans’ information and shape their TikTok experience,” was how Republican senator from South Dakota and Senate Minority Whip John Thune described the lobbying effort.
Arguments opposed to TikTok’s prohibition
Claiming to be independent of the Chinese government, TikTok has charged lawmakers attempting to impose restrictions with violating the right to free speech of their constituents. Drawing criticism of the law as “unconstitutional,” TikTok has vowed to launch a legal challenge.
We’re going to keep fighting because this legislation blatantly violates the First Amendment rights of the 170 million Americans who use TikTok, and it would have disastrous effects on the 7 million small businesses that rely on the platform to expand their consumer base, make sales, and generate employment. An internal company memo sent to TikTok employees on Saturday—which CBS News was able to obtain—stated, “This is the beginning, not the end of this long process.” The executive is Michael Beckerman.
The CEO of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, stated in a video on Wednesday that “we expect to prevail again because the facts and the Constitution are on our side.” He claimed that in order to “keep our platform free from outside manipulation,” the company has made billion-dollar investments to secure user data.
In 2022, TikTok launched “Project Texas,” an effort to allay lawmakers’ concerns and protect the data of American users on American servers. On Tuesday, however, Warner contended that the initiative was insufficient because it would leave TikTok’s source code and algorithm in China, leaving them “open to exploitation by the Chinese government.”
On Tuesday, Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts stated on the Senate floor that TikTok presents risks to national security. However, he claimed that the legislation amounted to “censorship” because it might prevent Americans from using a platform that they depend on for news, commerce, community building, and social interaction.
Markey said, “The likely outcome of this legislation should be crystal clear.” Basically, it’s just a TikTok ban. And we can see this bill’s effect on free speech more clearly once we correctly identify it as a TikTok ban.”
The law might open the door for the government to force the sale of other businesses, according to a recent opinion piece written by Kentucky senator Rand Paul, a Republican.
“This ham-handed attack on TikTok may actually give the government the power to force the sale of other companies,” he wrote, speculating that the Supreme Court would eventually declare the law unconstitutional. “There is a very real danger this way, if the damage to one company weren’t enough.” he wrote.