US Lawmakers Again Push for TikTok Ban

Facts

• On Thursday, the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce is expected to vote on a bipartisan law to require TikTok parent company ByteDance, which is based in China, to divest its shares of TikTok within six months or the app will be banned nationally.¹
• Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the co-authors of the bill, are members of the Intelligence Committee and hold leadership positions on the select committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).²
• The bill, which received praise from the White House, would prohibit companies like Apple and Google from offering TikTok in their app stores or providing web services to apps owned by ByteDance.¹
• Lawmakers and intelligence officials have voiced concerns over China's ability to access personal data from the more than 150M Americans who use TikTok. They also fear Beijing could push its own narratives on the app to influence users' views on certain issues.²
• Ahead of Thursday's vote, TikTok warned users via a push notification that 'Congress is planning a total ban of TikTok,' claiming lawmakers are trying to strip the app's American users of their 'Constitutional right to free expression.'³

Sources: ¹Reuters.com, ²NBC and ³Verge.

Narratives

• Anti-China narrative, as provided by CNBC. US lawmakers used to be able to trust China, but recent events have made that impossible. As long as Americans have no idea what information Beijing is collecting, national security is at risk. This ban will protect users or force ByteDance to find a US owner for TikTok.
• Pro-China narrative, as provided by Global Times. This is nothing but a campaign tactic by lawmakers to increase China-phobia ahead of the 2024 election. TikTok is nothing more than a useful tool for boosting business, teaching, and entertaining hundreds of millions of Americans, but US politicians are again putting their political gain over the wants of the people.
• Narrative C, as provided by Electronic Frontier Foundation. Like state bans of TikTok, this attempt to strip the app from Americans likely won't survive a First Amendment challenge. Instead of banning the app, the government should boost its privacy initiatives to protect users' data. The government should always be more interested in protecting privacy over limiting speech.