The House of Representatives, led by Republicans, passed a major new bill on Wednesday that could end up with Chinese owned social media company TikTok being banned in the United States if its parent company, ByteDance, does not divest of the app. If you listen closely you’ll hear the sounds of young teenagers crying out in agony and abject terror at the mere thought of losing the source of their short-form content addiction. Honestly, at this point in our culture’s development, maybe making TikTok illegal wouldn’t be a bad idea.
The bill, known as the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” passed by a vote of 352-65. Wow, that means there was some significant support from both sides of the aisle. A total of 50 Democrats and 15 Republicans voted against the legislation. It will now be passed along to the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Here’s more from The Daily Wire:
According to a press release from the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, the “bill prevents app store availability or web hosting services in the U.S. for ByteDance-controlled applications, including TikTok, unless the application severs ties to entities like ByteDance that are subject to the control of a foreign adversary, as defined by Congress in Title 10.”
The legislation demands ByteDance sell TikTok within 180 days of the bill being enacted, or risk having the app face a clampdown in the United States.
“In addition,” the release went on to say, “the bill creates a process for the President to designate certain, specifically defined social media applications that are subject to the control of a foreign adversary — per Title 10 — and pose a national security risk. Designated applications will face a prohibition on app store availability and web hosting services in the U.S. unless they sever ties to entities subject to the control of a foreign adversary through divestment.”
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), the chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, introduced the legislation with Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), the panel’s ranking member.
The bill’s supporters claim it will help to block attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to gather data and information about Americans and will thwart their efforts to manipulate young people with content found on the app.
“Today’s bipartisan vote to pass The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act demonstrates Congress’ opposition to Communist China’s attempts to spy on and manipulate Americans and signals our resolve to deter our enemies,” Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, stated in a post to X. “I urge the Senate to pass this bill and send it to the President so he can sign the bill into law.”
Opponents of the legislation such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) argued the bill, which was introduced just last week, was rushed and warned it could lead to more censorship.
“I suspect that there is a way to address the challenge posed by TikTok that is consistent with our commitment to freedom of expression,” Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House intelligence Committee, said in a statement. “But a bill quickly passed by one committee less than a week ago is not that way.”
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If the legislation makes it through the Senate, President Joe Biden has said he would sign the bill into law.
As you can imagine, TikTok is not too happy about the bill, saying it would “trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs.”
An official from China said that if a ban happens, it would “come back to bite the United States.”