The bill that passed the House is on the fast track

The House Select Committee voted unanimously against a sellout of the TikTok app in the background of the e-mail correspondence

For several years, Congress has tried and failed to force a TikTok sale. Republicans and Democrats fear the app poses a risk to the national security of the United States. But Congress has provided little evidence to support these claims, and TikTok and its supporters argue that banning the app would violate freedom of speech rights.

Notably, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA), whose committee would normally take up the bill before it proceeds to the floor, had remained noncommittal about it. But after the version in the foreign aid package was released, she said she supported the legislation.

During debate on the bill Saturday morning, New York’s Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he supported the package that includes the updated TikTok legislation, even though he voted against the standalone version. Meeks said he opposed the earlier standalone TikTok bill “out of concern that it would be a broad authorization that could be misused far beyond what we in Washington are currently debating, beyond just TikTok.”

But, he added, “the bill took a step in the right direction with a more realistic timeframe for a complex divesture process. Let me say for the record, that I believe this bill is about one company that additional authorities provided to the executive branch or to be interpreted narrowly.”

Are We Really Listening to Social Media? Senator McCaul argues that TikTok is a Trojan horse for the invasion of privacy

Castro said that the government of Prime Minister Netanyahu had used American weapons to force famine. “We cannot escape what we see before us every day. Today’s technology, like TikTok, is the blessing of it all. We have to determine what to do about it when we see it. Are we going to participate in that carnage or not?”

The Senate is out of session this coming week for the Passover break, which could delay action in that chamber. It might be possible for leader to bring senators back early to vote. As Politico recently noted, some lawmakers are scheduled for congressional delegation trips over the break, which could make it harder to bring back enough senators early to pass the package.

“This app is a spy balloon on Americans’ phones,” said representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, in his introduction of the bill on the House floor Saturday. A modern day Trojan horse is used to surveil and exploit America’s personal information.

Digital liberties groups have pushed back against a TikTok ban over First Amendment concerns, and because they believe that getting rid of TikTok fails to address the underlying issue of pervasive data collection. The Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote last month that the only way to stop the collection of our data is to prohibit it. Foreign adversaries will be able to obtain our data from social media companies unless those companies are banned from collecting, retaining, and selling it.

Reply to Cantwell’s Call for a Short-Term Diminishment of the Byte Dance Reinvestigation Program

Regardless, divestment or a ban now seems almost certain. This new measure had been tacked on to a multi-billion dollar foreign aid package directed at Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. After Iran’s retaliatory attack against Israel last week, this aid has been fast-tracked, which would make it more difficult for the Senate to avoid passing it.

Cantwell has endorsed this latest package, saying in a Wednesday statement, “I’m very happy that Speaker Johnson and House leaders incorporated my recommendation to extend the Byte Dance divestment period from six months to a year. As I’ve said, extending the divestment period is necessary to ensure there is enough time for a new buyer to get a deal done. I support the new legislation that has been updated.