U.S. Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI-8) this weekend expressed heightened optimism about the prospect of banning all American use of the video-sharing application TikTok after the Senate version of his bill to do so gained bipartisan support.
Last week, Senator Angus King, an independent who is a member of his chamber’s Democratic Caucus, joined Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) in cosponsoring the legislation, known as the Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act (ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act). The measure has enjoyed bipartisan backing in the House of Representatives since its introduction in December, being cosponsored by Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-8).
“I’m glad the Senate companion to my ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act is now bipartisan,” Gallagher said in a statement. “The dam is breaking on TikTok and other apps like it, and I hope to build on this momentum in the coming weeks and expand bipartisan support for this bill in the House too.”
King insisted the legislation is necessary because of the widespread presence of TikTok on American devices as well as the privacy and security breaches in which some American media have found the app to have engaged. TikTok is owned by the China-based corporation ByteDance and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reportedly owns a share of Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese counterpart. News outlets such as BuzzFeed and Forbes last year uncovered instances of ByteDance using its software to track certain U.S. journalists and other residents who have downloaded it.
“Millions of Americans depend on [social-media] networks to keep in touch with loved ones, stay up to date on news, or run their small business,” he said upon joining Rubio in spearheading the Senate bill. “We cannot allow hostile governments to use our social media habits as a Trojan Horse into our networks. Make no mistake – every ‘private’ enterprise in China has direct ties and on-demand information-sharing requirements with the national government. The Chinese Communist Party’s potential to access TikTok user data and exploit American’s private information is an unacceptable national security risk.”
Numerous states, including Wisconsin began adopting prohibitions on government use of TikTok late last year. Last month, President Joe Biden signed a Senate measure to ban the app from government devices.
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Wisconsin Daily Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Mike Gallagher” by U.S. House Office of Photography. Photo “Angus King” by United States Senate. Background Photo “TikTok” by Solen Feyissa. CC BY-SA 2.0.
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