WASHINGTON (AP) — Citing major national security concerns, the U. S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday banning TikTok unless the company spins off from its Chinese owner ByteDance.
The 352-65 vote came just a week after lawmakers introduced the bipartisan proposal and days after the hard-nosed House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously pushed the bill forward, a step for the 118th Congress. Of the U. S. delegation to the Ohio House of Representatives, the only representative to vote against the bill was Republican Warren Davidson.
The bill required a two-thirds majority because House leaders had presented it with a fast-track procedure called rules suspension.
The law, called the Protection of Americans from Controlled Solicitations by Foreign Adversaries Act, is now before the Senate, where considerations about targeting a personal enterprise in the law may simply slow the momentum.
“Today’s overwhelming vote is a strong signal to the Senate that it wants to act,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Washington Republican who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee, said after the vote.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Wednesday morning that the framework will “review the bill when it comes to the House. “
Leaders of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said they were “united” in their considerations about a platform that has “enormous strength to influence and divide Americans, whose parent company ByteDance remains legally obligated to do the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party. “
“We are encouraged by today’s strong bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives and look forward to running together to get this bill passed by the Senate and signed into law,” said committee chairman Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio. said a Democrat from Virginia, Republican from Florida, in a joint statement.
President Joe Biden, whose leadership helped draft the bill, is expected to point to the measure if the chamber approves it.
Even though Biden is in favor of the bill, his re-election crusade joined TikTok last month in a bid to succeed among Gen Z voters.
As popularity grows on both sides of the aisle, the law has faced fierce opposition from TikTok users (a total of about 170 million in the U. S. ) and a coalition of young House lawmakers.
“I’m not a ‘no’ to tomorrow’s TikTok ban bill, but I’m a ‘no,'” Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Democrat representing Florida, said at a press convention Tuesday where he questioned which corporations are big enough to win. TikTok. Frost is the youngest member of Congress at 27 years old.
“Essentially, what this bill does is derail this sale,” he said.
Forty-nine Democrats joined Frost in opposing the bill Wednesday, several members of the so-called team, an organization of progressive Democrats that includes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Greg Casar of Texas, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, Cori Bush of Missouri and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
Congressional Progressive Group Chair and Washington Democrat Pramila Jayapal voted against the measure, saying in a statement that the “too rushed” bill “provides an unworkable path to remove TikTok from the ownership of a Chinese company, making it a de facto ban. “
Notably, Connecticut Democrat Jim Himes, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, voted against the legislation.
“I know better than anyone the online threats posed by our adversaries. But one of the main differences between us and those adversaries is that they shut down newspapers, broadcast stations, and social media platforms. We don’t. We are convinced that our citizens are worthy of their democracy. We don’t take it for granted that our government decides what data it can or can’t see,” Himes said after the vote.
The bill’s original sponsor, Republican Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, said he and Himes would participate in the same hearing on security risks on Tuesday, which intelligence officials warned were opposed to TikTok.
“Every sensible national security official in the Biden administration has said that TikTok’s existing property design poses a security threat. Perhaps Mr. Himes had presidential or constitutional concerns?I don’t know. But I don’t think anyone can argue that, under the “TikTok doesn’t pose a threat,” said Gallagher, chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
Users of the popular social media platform flooded lawmakers’ offices with thousands of calls on Thursday after the company sent out a push notification warning that a ban could be imminent, an argument subsidized by the company.
The platform generates user-created videos in the fields of politics and news, celebrity gossip, dance trends, recipes, and skincare routines.
“This procedure was secret and the bill was passed for a reason: it’s a ban. We hope the Senate will look at the facts, pay attention to its constituents, and realize the effect that 7 million small businesses have on the economy. , and the 170 million Americans who use our service,” a TikTok spokesperson said Wednesday.
Party supporters refute this claim.
It is designed to address valid national security and privacy considerations, similar to the Chinese Communist Party’s interaction with a commonly used social media platform,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Democrat, he said on a Wednesday.
“If passed, the bill would require the divestment of ByteDance and the sale of TikTok to a U. S. company,” he continued.
The bill gives TikTok 180 days to divest from ByteDance and would make it illegal for any U. S. app store or web hosting company to exert itself. U. S. Citizens of the U. S. distributes platforms controlled by designated foreign adversaries in the U. S. U. S.
The social media platform, 100 percent owned by ByteDance, has long been in the crosshairs of federal and state lawmakers, who have been warned by intelligence officials about the Chinese government’s option to access Americans’ knowledge through the app.
Lawmakers passed a law in December 2022 banning the app on the devices of as many federal employees. The Montana Legislature banned enforcement last year, but the law remains stalled in the courts.
Former President Donald Trump issued an executive order in 2020 banning TikTok unless it broke with ByteDance. This week, Trump changed his stance on the platform, telling CNBC that “without TikTok, Facebook is going to grow. “
The bill’s passage on Wednesday represents a rare departure for House Republicans from Trump, the party’s front-runner in the 2024 election.
But some Republican lawmakers have aligned themselves with Trump’s opposition, such as Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said Wednesday before the vote that she fears Congress will simply open a “Pandora’s box” and target other platforms like X.
Greene said her “freedom of speech” was “restored” when Elon Musk bought Twitter and reinstated her account.
“It’s about controlling Americans’ data,” Greene said before the vote.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky criticized the bill before the vote, while saying he believes the bill’s supporters “are honest in their considerations and in their efforts toward the American people. “
“They describe the TikTok app as a Trojan horse, but some of us think that, deliberately or not, this law to ban TikTok is a Trojan horse,” he said before the vote.
“Some of us are concerned that there are First Amendment implications here. Americans have a right to see information. . . Some of us just don’t need the president to choose what apps we can install on our phones,” Massie continued.
The bill would give the president the strength to determine whether a “controlled enforcement through a foreign adversary” poses a national security risk.
The president would then have to determine, in collaboration with executive agencies, whether and when the foreign application is subject to a “qualified assignment,” according to the text of the bill.
Among the 15 Republican members of the House of Representatives, Greene and Massie, who voted “no,” were: Andy Biggs and David Schweikert of Arizona, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Warren Davidson of Ohio, John Duarte and Tom McClintock of California, Matt Gaetz and Greg Steube of Florida, Clay Higgins of Louisiana, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Alex Mooney of West Virginia, Barry Moore of Alabama and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.
Gallagher said he wanted to clear up “misconceptions” about the bill before the vote.
“This doesn’t apply to U. S. companies,” he said at the event and then posted on X from his account.
“This only applies to corporations subject to foreign adversary control, as explained in Congress. It says nothing about election interference and cannot oppose any U. S. social media platform. U. S. This has no effect on internet sites in general. The only sites affected are those related to foreign adverse applications, such as TikTok. com.
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by Ashley Murray, Ohio Capital Journal March 14, 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — Citing major national security concerns, the U. S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday banning TikTok unless the company spins off from its Chinese owner ByteDance.
The 352-65 vote came just a week after lawmakers introduced the bipartisan proposal and days after the hard-nosed House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously pushed the bill forward, a step for the 118th Congress. Of the U. S. delegation to the Ohio House of Representatives, the only representative to vote against the bill was Republican Warren Davidson.
The bill required a two-thirds majority because House leaders had presented it with a fast-track procedure called rules suspension.
The law, called the Protection of Americans from Controlled Solicitations by Foreign Adversaries Act, is now before the Senate, where considerations about targeting a personal enterprise in the law may simply slow the momentum.
“Today’s overwhelming vote is a strong signal to the Senate that it wants to act,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Washington Republican who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee, said after the vote.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Wednesday morning that the framework will “review the bill when it comes to the House. “
Leaders of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said they were “united” in their considerations about a platform that has “enormous strength to influence and divide Americans, whose parent company ByteDance remains legally obligated to do the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party. “
“We are encouraged by today’s strong bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives and look forward to running together to get this bill passed by the Senate and signed into law,” said committee chairman Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio. said a Democrat from Virginia, Republican from Florida, in a joint statement.
President Joe Biden, whose leadership helped draft the bill, is expected to point to the measure if the chamber approves it.
Even though Biden is in favor of the bill, his re-election crusade joined TikTok last month in a bid to succeed among Gen Z voters.
As popularity grows on both sides of the aisle, the law has faced fierce opposition from TikTok users (a total of about 170 million in the U. S. ) and a coalition of young House lawmakers.
“I’m not a ‘no’ to tomorrow’s TikTok ban bill, but I’m a ‘no,'” Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Democrat representing Florida, said at a press convention Tuesday where he questioned which corporations are big enough to win. TikTok. Frost is the youngest member of Congress at 27 years old.
“Essentially, what this bill does is derail this sale,” he said.
Forty-nine Democrats joined Frost in opposing the bill Wednesday, several members of the so-called team, an organization of progressive Democrats that includes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Greg Casar of Texas, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, Cori Bush of Missouri and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
Congressional Progressive Group Chair and Washington Democrat Pramila Jayapal voted against the measure, saying in a statement that the “too rushed” bill “provides an unworkable path to remove TikTok from the ownership of a Chinese company, making it a de facto ban. “
Notably, Connecticut Democrat Jim Himes, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, voted against the legislation.
“I know better than anyone the online threats posed by our adversaries. But one of the main differences between us and those adversaries is that they shut down newspapers, broadcast stations, and social media platforms. We don’t. We are convinced that our citizens are worthy of their democracy. We don’t take it for granted that our government decides what data it can or can’t see,” Himes said after the vote.
The bill’s original sponsor, Republican Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, said he and Himes would participate in the same hearing on security risks on Tuesday, which intelligence officials warned were opposed to TikTok.
“Every sensible national security official in the Biden administration has said that TikTok’s existing property design poses a security threat. Perhaps Mr. Himes had presidential or constitutional concerns?I don’t know. But I don’t think anyone can argue that, under the “TikTok doesn’t pose a threat,” said Gallagher, chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
Users of the popular social media platform flooded lawmakers’ offices with thousands of calls on Thursday after the company sent out a push notification warning that a ban could be imminent, an argument subsidized by the company.
The platform generates user-created videos in the fields of politics and news, celebrity gossip, dance trends, recipes, and skincare routines.
“This procedure was secret and the bill was passed for a reason: it’s a ban. We hope the Senate will look at the facts, pay attention to its constituents, and realize the effect that 7 million small businesses have on the economy. , and the 170 million Americans who use our service,” a TikTok spokesperson said Wednesday.
Party supporters refute this claim.
It is designed to address valid national security and privacy considerations, similar to the Chinese Communist Party’s interaction with a commonly used social media platform,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Democrat, he said on a Wednesday.
“If passed, the bill would require the divestment of ByteDance and the sale of TikTok to a U. S. company,” he continued.
The bill gives TikTok 180 days to divest from ByteDance and would make it illegal for any U. S. app store or web hosting company to exert itself. U. S. Citizens of the U. S. distributes platforms controlled by designated foreign adversaries in the U. S. U. S.
The social media platform, 100 percent owned by ByteDance, has long been in the crosshairs of federal and state lawmakers, who have been warned by intelligence officials about the Chinese government’s option to access Americans’ knowledge through the app.
Lawmakers passed a law in December 2022 banning the app on the devices of as many federal employees. The Montana Legislature banned enforcement last year, but the law remains stalled in the courts.
Former President Donald Trump issued an executive order in 2020 banning TikTok unless it broke with ByteDance. This week, Trump changed his stance on the platform, telling CNBC that “without TikTok, Facebook is going to grow. “
The bill’s passage on Wednesday represents a rare departure for House Republicans from Trump, the party’s front-runner in the 2024 election.
But some Republican lawmakers have aligned themselves with Trump’s opposition, such as Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said Wednesday before the vote that she fears Congress will simply open a “Pandora’s box” and target other platforms like X.
Greene said her “freedom of speech” was “restored” when Elon Musk bought Twitter and reinstated her account.
“It’s about controlling Americans’ data,” Greene said before the vote.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky criticized the bill before the vote, while saying he believes the bill’s supporters “are honest in their considerations and in their efforts toward the American people. “
“They describe the TikTok app as a Trojan horse, but some of us think that, deliberately or not, this law to ban TikTok is a Trojan horse,” he said before the vote.
“Some of us are concerned that there are First Amendment implications here. Americans have a right to see information. . . Some of us just don’t need the president to choose what apps we can install on our phones,” Massie continued.
The bill would give the president the strength to determine whether a “controlled enforcement through a foreign adversary” poses a national security risk.
The president would then have to determine, in collaboration with executive agencies, whether and when the foreign application is subject to a “qualified assignment,” according to the text of the bill.
Among the 15 Republican members of the House of Representatives, Greene and Massie, who voted “no,” were: Andy Biggs and David Schweikert of Arizona, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Warren Davidson of Ohio, John Duarte and Tom McClintock of California, Matt Gaetz and Greg Steube of Florida, Clay Higgins of Louisiana, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Alex Mooney of West Virginia, Barry Moore of Alabama and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.
Gallagher said he wanted to clear up “misconceptions” about the bill before the vote.
“This doesn’t apply to U. S. companies,” he said at the event and then posted on X from his account.
“This only applies to corporations subject to foreign adversary control, as explained in Congress. It says nothing about election interference and cannot oppose any U. S. social media platform. U. S. This has no effect on internet sites in general. The only sites affected are those related to foreign adverse applications, such as TikTok. com.
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Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a grant-subsidized nonprofit news network and donor coalition as a 501c public charity(3). The Ohio Capital Journal maintains its editorial independence. If you have any questions, please contact Editor-in-Chief David Dewitt: info@ohiocapitaljournal. com. Follow the Ohio Capital Journal on Facebook and Twitter.
Ashley Murray covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Their policy spaces come with internal policies and credits.
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