UNITED STATES: Rand Paul, a Republican senator, on Wednesday criticised and blocked endeavours in Congress to ban the China-owned social media app, TikTok. TikTok is used by more than 150 million Americans worldwide, and a lot of Democrats and Republicans have been concerned, citing free speech and criticised the laws that targeted TikTok.
Paul stated in a snippet published on Wednesday in a newspaper article, “Congressional Republicans have come up with a national strategy to permanently lose elections for a generation: Ban a social media app called TikTok that 94 million people, primarily young Americans, use,” adding, “If you don’t like TikTok, Facebook or YouTube, don’t use them. But don’t think any interpretation of the Constitution gives you the right to ban them.”
Josh Hawley, a Republican Senator, mentioned this week that a TikTok ban would receive unanimous voting. Only last week, Shou Zi Chew, TikTok’s chief executive, came before Congress and experienced heavy criticism about questions regarding ByteDance-owned apps posing concerns over national security.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday, in a TikTok video, criticised the TikTok ban, saying that classified TikTok briefings have not been received by Congress. “It just doesn’t feel right to me,” she mentions.
Free speech groups like the American Liberties Union as well as three Democrats from the House of Representatives blocked a TikTok ban. Justin Amash, a former Republican Representative, said, “The Restrict Act isn’t about banning TikTok; it’s about controlling you. It gives broad powers to the executive branch, with few checks, and will be abused in every way you can imagine.”
“To be extremely clear, this legislation is aimed squarely at companies like Kaspersky, Huawei, and TikTok that create systemic risks to the United States’ national security, not at individual users,” says a Warner spokesperson.
The Restrict Act has been proposed by a Democrat, Mark Warner, and a Republican, John Thune, with a total of 22 state cosponsors, to provide the Commerce Department with the right to cause restraints, including banning TikTok and other apps that cause a risk to national security. This applies to foreign-owned apps and technologies from countries like China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba.
Also Read: CEO Shou Zi Chew Claims That TikTok Never Gave U.S. Data to Chinese Authorities
