Today, the House Commerce Committee voted 50-0 to approve a bill that would force TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the company or lose access to the US market.
The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act “addresses the immediate national security risks posed by TikTok and establishes a framework for the Executive Branch to protect Americans from future foreign adversary controlled applications,” a committee memo said. “If an application is determined to be operated by a company controlled by a foreign adversary—like ByteDance, Ltd., which is controlled by the People’s Republic of China—the application must be divested from foreign adversary control within 180 days.”
According to Ars Technica, “If the application is not divested, entities in the United States would be prohibited from distributing the application through an application marketplace or store and providing web hosting services,” the committee memo said.
The American Civil Liberties Union opposes the TikTok bill, saying it “would violate the First Amendment rights of hundreds of millions of Americans who use the app to communicate and express themselves daily.”
Some free-speech advocates say the measure, as it’s worded, violates First Amendment protections.
“The First Amendment does not permit the government to suppress the media on the grounds that it contains disinformation,” Nadine Farid Johnson, policy director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in an interview.
Chip Roy says TikTok is putting China in our homes:
“[TikTok] is a Trojan horse to put China in your bedroom, your backyard, and take your data and target your kids and undermine our national security.”
Rep. Chip Roy on #TikTok bill▶️ pic.twitter.com/L36RAT6hyf
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) March 12, 2024
An effort by state lawmakers in Montana to ban TikTok from the phones of the state’s residents was blocked in November by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy, who ruled that Montana’s TikTok ban “oversteps state power” and “likely violates the First Amendment.” The ban, which was to go into effect in January, has been halted temporarily pending a trial.
Maybe it should be reworded?
Thomas Massie said the bill is worded in a way that it can go after websites.
If you think this isn’t a Trojan horse and will only apply to TikTok and foreign-adversary social media companies, then contemplate why someone thought it was important to get a very specific exclusion for their internet based business written into the bill: pic.twitter.com/LnHsmEgtt9
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 12, 2024
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