By Tashi McQueen,
AFRO Political Writer,
tmcqueen@afro.com
Congress is one step closer to banning or requiring a change in ownership of the popular social media platform, TikTok. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a much anticipated, contentious bill aimed at protecting national security from the dangers of social media.
The bill, if passed into law, would require TikTok to either part with its Chinese owner, ByteDance, or be banned.
“The ultimate objective of the bill is about a question of ownership. Do we want TikTok, as a platform, to be owned by an American company or owned by China?” said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to the press on March 12. “Do we want the data from TikTok – children’s data, adults’ data– to be staying here in America or going to China?”
According to TikTok, more than 150 million Americans use the platform. TikTok employs around 7,000 people in the U.S. and around 5 million businesses utilize the platform to expand their businesses.
On March 13, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, H.R. 7521, was overwhelmingly passed by a 352-65 vote. Though it was largely passed by a Bipartisan vote, 50 Democrats and 15 Republicans voted no on the bill.
Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.-08), who voted no, claims the bill is an infringement of First Amendment rights.
“How could it be that Congress should be working hard to devise a means to circumvent that prevailing principle of the First Amendment against the use of a particular means of expression by 170 million Americans?” said Bishop, who voted no on the bill. “America confronts a great challenge in China, and it will not prevail by becoming more like it.”
The bill still has to make its way through the U.S. Senate and President Joe Biden to become law.
On March 8, Biden said he would sign the bill if it made it to his desk.
Tashi McQueen is a Report For America corps member.
