What would a TikTok Ban look like?
TikTok: What’s Happening? Tech Companies Are Giving Back with a Tik Tok-to-Kick to the Floor
The Congress has tried and failed to ban TikTok over the course of the past few years, but this is the closest it has gotten. Still, the politics of a ban have never been hazier. While bills regulating US-based tech companies have largely stalled out, this TikTok ban is on its way to the floor.
Amber Estenson, a 42-year content creator also known as “That Midwestern Mom,” went viral on TikTok two years ago when she uploaded one of her quirky Minnesota “salad” concoctions. She was able to use the ingredients of Snickers bars, apples and Jell-O.
Some other TikTokers use their platform to give back. William White, also known as “Iymm White”, is a former drug dealer from Baltimore and ex-felon. He said he uses his platform to help homeless people in his community.
Last year, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified to the House Energy and Commerce Committee in his company’s first appearance on Capitol Hill. Chew was grilled on a number of issues, including child safety and the national security risks TikTok is said to pose for American users. Shortly after the hearing, Virginia senator Mark Warner introduced the RESTRICT Act, which would have allowed the secretary of commerce to bar foreign technologies and companies from operating in the US on national security grounds. The bill would provide too much authority to the executive branch, so support for it waned.
TikTok is only one platform that collects that type of information. Data from other platforms is then passed on to data brokers who sell it to foreign governments.
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Even opposition from former President Donald Trump seemingly did not dissuade Republicans in the House from voting for the measure. It passed with 352 members supporting it and only 65 opposing, with one voting present.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., who chairs the House Select committee on China and is the lead GOP sponsor of the bipartisan bill, maintains the bill does not amount to a ban of the video sharing app.
The Chinese government could potentially spy on users of the app if it were to try to disrupt the U.S. elections, according to critics of the app.
Prominent TikTok creators question the bill. The bill is not certain to protect Americans but I don’t think it is the goal at all, says Charlotte Palermino, the CEO and founder of skin-care brand Dieux. I find it very silly, but it is an example of American politics today where people don’t understand technology trying to regulate it.
“You had member offices being deluged with calls, you know, teenagers crying and one threatening suicide and one impersonating one of my colleague’s sons,” he said. I think that it shows how the platform can be weaponized in the future.
The bill also sets up a process for the president to address any future threats from any foreign owned apps if they are deemed a national security risk. It also creates a system for users to download their own data and switch to an alternate platform.
The ranking Democrat on the House Select committee on China is from Illinois, and he helped write the bill. He pushed back on the company’s argument, telling NPR, “There’s no first amendment right to espionage, there’s no first amendment right to harm our national security.”
The company has invested money in an effort called “Project Texas” to address data privacy concerns and keeps users’ data in the U.S.
TikTok: Facebook, Facebook, or the U.S. Economy? – Donald Trump Explains the CNBC News Discourse on “Silent Depression”
Donald Trump suggested a ban when he was in the White House. He isn’t in favor of the House bill.
He made a promise as president to ban the social media app. Trump told CNBC in an interview on Monday that he opposed a ban because he felt that users would move to a platform that was more dangerous.
There is a lot of good and a lot of bad with TikTok. But the thing I don’t like is that without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people along with a lot of the media,” he said.
Despite low unemployment and falling inflation, TikTok is full of viral videos bemoaning the U.S. economy. One popular group of posts uses the term “Silent Depression.” The posts falsely suggest that the country is in worse shape today than it was in 1930. Jim Tankersley and Jeanna Smialek reported on the posts late last year.
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A Wall Street Journal analysis found that after the terrorist attack in Gaza, TikTok flooded users with videos demonstrating extreme positions from both sides of the conflict. Many people are scared, according to The Journal. In November, videos praising an old Osama bin Laden letter also went viral.
In December, a Rutgers University research group concluded that videos about topics the Chinese government dislikes — including Tibet, Uyghurs, Hong Kong protests and the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown — were strangely hard to find on TikTok. All were more prominent on Instagram. It is not believable that this could happen organically, according to a Rutgers expert.
If both chambers pass the bill, President Joe Biden will sign it.
But even though the bill sailed through the House only about a week after it was first introduced, the Senate will present a whole different set of challenges.
To start, there’s no companion bill yet, so the legislation is barely at the start line in that chamber. Senate rules could make it hard to maintain enough support to clear it, even if one is introduced. Legislation can only be put on hold by one senator.
Sen. Paul indicated he would be willing to do that. He told The Washington Post prior to the House vote that he would block any bill he believed to violate the Constitution and said Congress shouldn’t “be trying to take away the First Amendment rights of [170] million Americans.”
The RESTRICT Act: Reply to the Poincare on TikTok’s Privacy Concerns and its Bipartisan Vote
A long legal process could leave room for doubts — and lobbying money — to seep in. Consider the splashy introduction of the RESTRICT Act — another attempt to ban TikTok — in the Senate last year just before TikTok CEO Shou Chew testified in the House. The measure fell off the radar despite early enthusiasm, as opponents critiqued it. Ultimately, it failed to move through the chamber.
The Senate should immediately take up the bill that addresses TikTok’s China ties, said Sen. Josh Hawley after the House vote.
The chair and vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee were pleased by the bipartisan vote in the House and look forward to working together to get this bill passed.
It’s significant that Warner is willing to get behind the House bill, given that he was the lead sponsor of the RESTRICT Act. Warner supports the new House legislation because he believes it will expose the dangers he sees from the ownership of TikTok.
Sigourney Norman, an artist and former lawyer who uses Tik Tok to discuss politics, race, gender and sexuality, does not believe that the bill is going to protect the data of American users.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has so far been noncommittal about the path the bill could take. Schumer said simply in a statement after the House passed the bill that “The Senate will review the legislation when it comes over from the House.”
Several supporters emphasized that the bill is not an all-out ban, but instead an incentive to force divestment so TikTok can separate its ties to China.
But opponents of the bill on both sides of the aisle echoed each others’ concerns. Opponents fear the bill will be an ineffective solution to real national security concerns, while coming with unacceptable limits on free speech and expansion of governmental power.
“It’s dangerous to give the president that kind of power, to give him the power to decide what Americans can see on their phones and on their computers,” said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).
Some Democrats expressed reservations about the all-out ban, despite Chew facing bipartisan grilling. And despite the early push from a group of powerful lawmakers, the RESTRICT Act ultimately fizzled out amid a strong lobbying campaign by TikTok and Republican concerns about granting too much executive branch power over the private sector.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said she worried the bill could be used to force the sale of other social media platforms, particularly mentioning X, which is now owned by Elon Musk.
Despite the fact that Chinese influence operations can be found anywhere, Kamlager-Dove noted that they are not restricted to TikTok. In November 2023, Meta announced that it had removed a massive Chinese influence operation from its platforms that had targeted the US. Some smaller networks had also targeted users in India and Tibet.
The shuttering of TikTok Shop would have a negative short-term effect on Dieux and Palermino believes it is a valuable tool for small businesses. It would be challenging to lose that. While she’s confident Dieux could pivot to focus on other platforms, she suspects a TikTok ban could seriously impact other independent and up-and-coming brands within the United States in a big way. “It will hurt their business.”
The Senate needs to clear the law before President Biden signs it. The Senate’s attempts at anti-TikTok legislation have stopped, and it is not yet known if the House’s anti-Tik Tok legislation will fare any better.
TikTok ain’t so, but it can be used by VPNs to break the security monopoly on social media
If a security threat is large, then shutting down a social media platform is necessary to justify a restriction of online speech.
170 million Americans already downloaded TikTok and there is no way to make it disappear. But removing TikTok from app stores would mean that users would not be able to download any further software updates. Without the ability to update frequently, the app would get slow, glitchy and rife with other problems that would be hard to use, says experts.
If the Senate passes a companion bill and Biden signs it into law, there will be a six month deadline to sell.
Virtual private networks, or VPNs, could be used by people to get past restrictions. The technique is popular in places like China and Russia, where many popular internet apps and services are banned.
National security officials in Washington have been looking at the ties between TikTok and Beijing for five years and have not approved the plan.
Mnuchin is an experienced Wall Street investor. Before working under President Trump, he worked for Goldman Sachs and then became a financier with a Hollywood production company on the side.
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Bytedance has pushed back on those claims, saying it has not received a request from China to access the data of Americans and would not share it if asked.
Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday he’s putting together a group of investors to try to buy TikTok, a day after the House passed a bill that could force the Chinese owners of the popular app to sell the business.
Makena said to go to the office. (Really.) Mike recommends Ener-C powdered vitamin drink mix. Kate Knibbs had recommended the filmamericanfiction that won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay
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