President Joe Biden has pledged to sign a bill threatening to ban TikTok should its Chinese parent firm fail to divest from the platform. The proposed crackdown enjoys bipartisan support in Congress, and is expected to be fast-tracked for a vote as soon as next week.
Asked whether he would enact the legislation as he headed out for a campaign event on Friday, Biden told reporters “If they pass it, I’ll sign it,” echoing recent comments from the White House, which has welcomed the bill.
Introduced last week by GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher – who chairs the House committee on China – and Democratic Rep.Raja Krishnamoorthi, the legislation would order TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to divest its shares from the company within six months or face an effective ban in the US. The bill was reportedly drafted with “technical support” from administration staffers, and passed through the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously last Thursday with bipartisan backing.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, a supporter of the potential ban, has signaled the measure would come to a full House vote sometime next week.
Beijing has repeatedly condemned efforts to target TikTok and other Chinese companies, with the country’s Commerce Ministry warning a ban would “seriously damage” the confidence of global investors. Asked about a possible forced sale of TikTok last year, ministry spokeswoman Shu Jueting said China would “firmly oppose it,” suggesting the People’s Republic might even attempt to veto the move.
“The Chinese government will make a decision in accordance with the law,” she added.
Though former President Donald Trump pursued his own TikTok crackdown in 2020, the GOP presidential frontrunner appeared to reverse his stance on Thursday, voicing opposition to the new bill.
“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckershmuck will double their business,” Trump wrote in a social media post, referring to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!”
While Trump had signed an August 2020 executive order which also called on ByteDance to divest from TikTok and threatened to ban the platform outright, Biden rescinded the order after taking office. Nonetheless, he asked the Commerce Department to determine whether the popular app posed a “national security threat” to the United States, and later banned TikTok on federal devices.
A number of US agencies, including the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission, have sounded alarms about the alleged risks posed by TikTok, warning that sensitive user data could be shared with the Chinese government.
TikTok has rejected those charges, insisting it would be “physically impossible for any government, including the Chinese government, to get access to US user data” given the protections in place. The platform later denounced the new divestment bill, calling it “an outright ban of TikTok” that would “trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans.”
Will Porter is assistant news editor at the Libertarian Institute. Find more of his work at Consortium News and ZeroHedge.
The only reason they want to ban Tik Tok, is because national security has no control over the message.
They actually have a lot of control. Watch the Greenwald rumble segment. The bill is a gateway to eliminate any apps or sites that the gov’t disapproves of. And of course, it’s also an opening to manufacture consent for war with China.
https://rumble.com/v4i0ygf-system-update-241.html
Previously:
Sen. Klobuchar Pressures Amazon to Blacklist Rumble/Substack. Censorship Demands on Israel/Gaza Escalate.
Just two months ago, an appellate court ruled that the Biden White House and the FBI by coercing, threatening and effectively forcing Big Tech platforms to censor for them, had committed one of the gravest and most drastic attacks on the First Amendment free speech guarantee in the nation’s history. Yet that scathing ruling has evidently not deterred congressional Democrats from pursuing these coercive censorship schemes in the slightest.
https://greenwald.locals.com/post/4774327/sen-klobuchar-pressures-amazon-to-blacklist-rumble-substack-censorship-demands-on-israel-gaza-esca
Why do foreign countries try to do business in the U.S. when we help ourselves to all of their assets?
1. Venezuela – we stole CITGO and their bank accounts
2. Russia’s central bank reserves and private property of Russian citizens
3. And now China.
Only do business in the U.S. if you accept that you are a vassal state of the U.S.
Chinese spy balloons allegations are now twisted into TikTok…!
Two issues:
– how would this be policed? What if I sign in to TT after the “ban”?
– free speech issue, anyone …?
They will force apple and google to kill the app
“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckershmuck will double their business,” Trump wrote in a social media post, referring to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!”
Priorities. Tighten up your sphincter. It’s going to be a looong 4 years.
He’s actually not wrong though.
https://news.yahoo.com/zuckerberg-admits-facebook-suppressed-hunter-121655720.html
I should have put “who cheated in the last Election” in bold only. That was really my point and getting revenge for all those responsible for that cheated election will be Trump’s entire focus during his second term.
Do you care? Rich piranhas biting each others’ tails matters little to me. I see a lot of people worrying that he will go after political enemies who went after him and I’m supposed to feel protective of them? Pfft. Have at it. It’s better when all of these idiots are fighting instead of making our lives worse.