CV NEWS FEED // The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill that has the potential to ban the controversial video-sharing app TikTok.
The House approved the legislation by a landslide margin of 352-65. An unlikely coalition of 50 Democrats and 15 Republicans opposed the bill.
TikTok has a predominately young user base and a significant portion of its users are minors.
Over the past few years, the popular app has fallen under increased scrutiny for both its connection to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its impact on the mental health of its young users.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that the bill “would lead to a nationwide ban of” TikTok if its owner and developer ByteDance “doesn’t sell its stake.”
Like other massive Chinese companies, the Beijing-based corporation is close with the country’s totalitarian regime.
Last year, a former ByteDance executive stated that the CCP used data obtained by the TikTok owner to track pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
The AP indicated that in passing the bill “lawmakers acted on concerns that the company’s current ownership structure is a national security threat.”
Despite the legislation passing the House by a large margin, it faces an uncertain future in the Senate. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, “said he’ll have to consult with relevant committee chairs to determine the bill’s path,” the AP noted.
President Joe Biden has signaled that he will sign the bill into law if the Senate does approve it.
The House’s passage of the bill came less than a day after Biden clinched the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination. Polls indicate that he faces an uphill battle in a rematch with former President Donald Trump, who clinched the Republican nomination the same night.
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“The legislation essentially gives ByteDance two options: sell TikTok or face a ban,” another AP report explained:
If ByteDance chooses to divest its stakes, TikTok would continue to operate in the U.S. if the President determines “through an inter-agency process” that the platform is “no longer being controlled by a foreign adversary.” The bill would also require ByteDance to give up control of TikTok’s well-known algorithm, which feeds users content based off their preferences.
“If the company chooses not to sell, TikTok would be prohibited from app stores – such as those offered by Apple and Google – as well as web-hosting services until a divesture occurs,” the AP added.
CNN noted that the bill “is the closest the United States has come to banning the social media platform on personal devices.”
House Committee on the CCP Chairman Mike Gallagher, R-WI, was the legislation’s main sponsor.
“What we’ve tried to do here is be very thoughtful and deliberate about the need to force a divestiture of TikTok without granting any authority to the executive branch to regulate content or go after any American company,” Gallegher said of the bill.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-WA, explained that if the bill becomes law, the ball will be in TikTok’s court.
“We have given TikTok a clear choice,” McMorris Rodgers said. “Separate from your parent company ByteDance, which is beholden to the CCP, and remain operational in the United States, or side with the CCP and face the consequences.
“The choice is TikTok’s,” she said.
The legislation was unique as it garnered opposition from both the left and the right.
Of the 50 Democrats who voted against the bill, many were members of the left-wing Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC).
Notable far-left lawmakers who opposed the effort to hold ByteDance accountable include Reps. Jamaal Bowman, D-NY, Cori Bush, D-MO, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, and Ilhan Omar, D-MO. All are members of a controversial informal partnership known as “the Squad.”
On the other hand, a number of conservatives joined the left-wing Democrats in opposition.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-KY, was a notable name among the 15 Republicans who voted against the bill. Many observers consider Massie to be among the most libertarian members of Congress.
Freedom Caucus member Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FL, also voted against the legislation.
Gaetz explained his opposition in a post to X (formerly Twitter).
“Banning TikTok is the right idea,” he wrote. “But this legislation was overly broad, rushed and unavailable for amendment or revision.”
Rep. Tom McClintock, R-CA, also opposed the bill, implying it might set a dangerous precedent.
“The answer to authoritarianism is not more authoritarianism,” warned the California Republican. “The answer to CCP-style propaganda is not CCP-style oppression. Let us slow down before we blunder down this very steep and slippery slope.”
Earlier this week, McClintock made headlines after grilling Special Counsel Robert Hur on Hur’s decision not to charge Biden with a crime despite acknowledging that the president “willfully retained classified” documents.
“This is a glaring double standard, toxic to the law,” McClintock told Hur. “The fact that the same thing is happening to a political opponent makes this unprecedented.”
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