Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is calling on Senate leadership to take “immediate action” on a bill that would force ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to divest within six months or face being banned in the U.S.
The bill, which recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a 352-62 vote, currently sits in the Senate Commerce Committee.
Blackburn said her office has received more than 2,000 calls from individuals – some of which are school-aged children – who have made death threats against her, President Joe Biden, and even threatened suicide in an effort to kill the bill.
Despite this, Blackburn said she will not “bow to this intimidation campaign.”
“More than anything, TikTok’s response to these developments emphasizes the need for urgent action. After the Chinese-owned app encouraged its young users to call congressional offices to oppose the legislation, my office received more than 2,000 calls, including a handful in which individuals—including middle and high schoolers—threatened to harm me or commit suicide,” Blackburn said.
“No company—especially one controlled by the Chinese Communist Party—should be able to mobilize young Americans to threats of self-harm or violence against elected lawmakers. But make no mistake: I will not bow to this intimidation campaign. And I will stop at nothing to ensure that TikTok’s security threat to our nation is eliminated,” Blackburn added.
Blackburn says TikTok exposes Americans – especially young people – to “propaganda campaigns that are against U.S. interests, values, and security” by making users’ data accessible to the Chinese Communist Party.
“While the company has repeatedly insisted that this information is inaccessible in Communist China, reports continue to show that China-based employees have access to U.S. users’ private data,” Blackburn said. “This collection of Americans’ data is a tremendous national security threat. TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is tied to the Chinese Communist Party by strict laws in Beijing that force companies to hand over users’ personal data—meaning our top geopolitical adversary has the ability to spy on tens of millions of Americans.”
“One thing should be clear: TikTok is a weapon in the hands of Communist China—and Congress must take immediate action to address it,” Blackburn added.
Last February, TikTok celebrated 150 million American users on the social media platform – nearly half of the country’s population.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Sen. Marsha Blackburn” by Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
they’ll just create a new US corp, still reporting to the Chi Coms, and have it under it.
nothing will change.