This week, the House passed a bill that would prohibit TikTok from operating if it stays under the ownership of its Chinese parent firm.
Voting 352-61-1, the House passed H.R. 7521, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The fact that 50 Democrats opposed the measure and 15 Republicans opposed it demonstrates the broad bipartisan support for reducing TikTok’s perceived danger to national security.
Republicans were divided on the TikTok bill, which was up for vote. While some people were concerned about the effects on national security of allowing millions of Americans to use a Chinese-owned app, others were worried that banning the app would give powerful tech companies like Google and Facebook more power.
Peter Schweizer, President of GAI and senior contributor to Breitbart News, revealed secret military journal entries in his best-selling book Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans. These entries demonstrate how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sees the app as a psychological warfare tool pointed directly at America’s youth.
“A professor at China’s premier military academy, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) National Defense University (PLA-NDU), Colonel Dai Xu, wrote in one of the restricted journals that the true conflict between the US and China is “information-driven mental warfare” and likened social media and apps like TikTok to a “modern-day Trojan Horse.”
Celebrities in the entertainment business, like Jimmy Fallon, who promoted TikTok on television without revealing a connection with a Chinese corporation looking to increase interest in the app, played a significant role in the app’s meteoric rise in popularity.
Tom Emmer, the Republican whip in the house, declared, “TikTok is CCP surveillance software.” Quite simply put. With a bipartisan law that protects American data, House Republicans have made it very apparent that TikTok must break its relationship with the CCP in order to continue serving American users.
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH), in contrast, stated, “Solve the right problem. seclusion, monitoring, and moderation of content. TikTok is owned by who? 60% of investors, including citizens of the US, 20 percent plus 7,000 workers, including Americans 20% of the creators CEO & Headquarters Singapore Data stored by Oracle in Texas When something is owned, what changes? I’m going to vote against it.
Donald Trump, a former president, publicly criticized the app’s prohibition.
“Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will quadruple their profits if you get rid of TikTok,” Trump stated in a post on Truth Social.
“Facebook, who rigged the previous election, should not be performing better, in my opinion. “They truly represent an enemy of the people,” said the 45th president.
Several Trump supporters now seem to be more accepting of Tiktok.
After meeting with Trump lately, Elon Musk agreed with his tweet supporting TikTok, and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has grown more receptive to the app. Tucker Carlson has also joined the platform.
Senate approval of the TikTok measure is questionable since it is unlikely to succeed in its current form.
“It’s quite possible that we will take up their bill, change it, and say we’ve identified some places where we think it needs better,” stated Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). I worry that addressing this issue on a name-only basis would make it seem like you’re playing Whack a Mole; what’s TikTok one week may be TokTik, TicTak, or something else entirely the next week.
“This takes time, and we do things slowly over here,” he continued.
In fact, legislation cannot be passed by the Senate without a majority of 60 votes.
It is unclear when the Senate will vote on the plan, according to Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY).
“I plan to consult with the chairs of the relevant committees to ascertain their perspectives,” he stated.