Bipartisan legislation to ban TikTok

TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, is required by Chinese law to make app data available to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). From the director of the FBI to the commissioners of the FCC to cybersecurity experts, everyone has made clear the risk of TikTok being used to spy on Americans.

United States Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced bipartisan legislation to ban TikTok from operating in the United States. The Law on Preventing the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party (ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Law) would protect Americans by blocking and disallowing all transactions from any social media. company in China, Russia and several other foreign countries concerned or under their influence. US Representatives Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) introduced complementary legislation in the US House of Representatives.

"The federal government has yet to take a single meaningful step to protect US users from the threat of TikTok. This isn't about creative videos - this is about an app that collects every day data on tens of millions of American children and adults. We know it is used to manipulate flows and influence elections. We know it responds to the People's Republic of China. There is no No more time to waste in meaningless negotiations with a CCP puppet company. It's time to permanently ban Beijing-controlled TikTok.—Senator Rubio

"TikTok is digital fentanyl that addicts Americans, hoards their data and censors their news. It's also an increasingly powerful media company owned by ByteDance, which eventually falls under Communist Party of China - America's main adversary Allowing the app to continue operating in the US would be tantamount to allowing the USSR to buy out The New York Times, The Washington Post and major broadcast networks during the No country with even a passing interest in its own security would allow this to happen, which is why it's time to ban TikTok and any other CCP-controlled apps before it's too late. Representative Gallagher

"At a time when the Chinese Communist Party and our other adversaries abroad seek every advantage they can find against the United States through espionage and mass surveillance, it is imperative that we do not allow hostile powers to potentially control social media that could easily be weaponized against us. The bipartisan Anti-Social Law Against the CCP is an important step in protecting our nation against nefarious digital surveillance and influence operations by totalitarian regimes.Recent revelations regarding the depth of TikTok's ties to the CCP underscore the urgency of protecting Americans from these risks before it's too late.—Representative Krishnamoorthi

Want more information? Rubio and Gallagher announced the legislation in a Washington Post op-ed last month, writing that "Congress must act on the TikTok threat before it's too late."