A bill that suppresses speech can lead to unconstitutional consequences: a case study on Tiktokers and William McCoy
Even if the bill doesn’t regulate content, it would effectively suppress speech, argued the American Civil Liberties Union. The new House bill is unconstitutional due to the ruling in Montana blocking the state’s attempt to ban TikTok.
Two years ago, “That Midwestern Mom,” as she is known, went viral on Tiktok when she uploaded one of her quirky Minnesota “salad” concoctions. The ingredients — Snickers bars, apples, Jell-O and Cool Whip — made her a viral sensation.
TikTokers use their platform as a way of giving back. William McCoy, who goes by Izzy White, is a former drug dealer and ex-felon from Baltimore. He said he uses his platform to help homeless people in his community.
The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act: An Illinois Rep. Mike Gallagher argues the bill is foreign adversary control
The current House Republican bill tries to avoid similar constitutional problems. The process for the bill’s rules to be applied to other foreign-controlled companies was created. Companies would have 165 days to divest their apps before being removed from US app stores. A second time in January, Chew testified for another hearing on child safety, this time with other Big Tech CEOs.
“TikTok is not the only platform that collects that kind of information. Many other platforms collect that information including American platforms and that data is then made available to data brokers who then sell it to foreign governments” Jaffer said.
The bill is expected to pass but its fate is unclear in the Senate where some lawmakers have said they would like to hold hearings and consider it further.
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), who chairs the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and introduced the legislation, emphasized that the bill could not be used against American social media companies or individual social media users. He said that it was nothing but foreign adversary control when it came to the content of speech.
In speeches leading up to the vote on H.R. 7521, known as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, members of Congress highlighted the many security concerns with the app, including the potential for employees at the Chinese company to access American user data, and the spread of pro-China propaganda.
Gallagher says the lobbying campaign that TikTok launched — with push notices using location information to connect users by phone to their member of Congress — proves why the bill is needed.
“You had member offices being deluged with calls, you know, teenagers crying and one threatening suicide and one impersonating one of my colleague’s sons,” he said. The platform can be weaponized in the future.
The bill also sets up a process for the president to address any future threats from any foreign owned apps if they are deemed a national security risk. It allows users to download their own data and switch to another platform.
Illinois Democrat, Raja Krishnamoorthi, is the ranking Democrat on the House Select committee on China and helped write the bill. He pushed back on the company’s argument, telling NPR, “There’s no first amendment right to espionage, there’s no first amendment right to harm our national security.”
In order to address data privacy concerns and keep users’ data in the U.S., the company has invested its own money to set up a firewall called “Project Texas.”
Trump’s Twitter Ban on Social Media During the Bi-Policy Dilemma: The U.S. Economy in a Silent Depression
Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, proposed a ban back in 2020 when he was in the White House. But he does not support the House bill.
When he was elected president, he banned the social media app. In an interview with CNBC, Trump explained that he opposed a ban because it meant users would move to another platform and be more dangerous, even though he had a security risk.
“There’s a lot of good and there’s a lot of bad with TikTok. He said he doesn’t like the fact that if you don’t have TikTok you can make Facebook bigger with the help of a lot of the media.
Despite low unemployment and falling inflation, TikTok is full of viral videos bemoaning the U.S. economy. One popular group of posts uses the term “Silent Depression.” The posts falsely suggest that the country is in worse shape today than it was in 1930. They both reported on the posts in the late last year.
Why is the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversarial Controlled Applications so Important to the U.S.? Sen. Paul’s Implications for the Second Hamas Attack
The Wall Street Journal found that after the terrorist attack of Hamas, TikTok flooded users with videos expressing extreme positions from both sides of the conflict. The Journal reported that many of them stirred fear. In November, videos praising an old Osama bin Laden letter also went viral.
The top U.S. intelligence official said on Monday that the Chinese government had used Tiktok to spread their propaganda to Americans and they were going to use it to influence the upcoming elections. This year, the report warned, China’s ruling Communist Party may try to influence the presidential election and “magnify U.S. societal divisions.”
President Joe Biden has already said he would sign the bill, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, if both chambers advance it.
Also, even though the House bill passed overwhelmingly, it faces a far more uncertain future in the Senate. Big legal challenges would likely be faced by it even if it passes Congress.
The legislation is barely at the start line, because there is no companion bill. And even if one is introduced, Senate rules could make it tricky to maintain enough support (60 out of 100 members) to clear it. Just one senator can put a hold on legislation to keep it from advancing quickly.
Sen. Paul said he could be willing to do that. He told The Washington Post before the House vote that he would block any bill he believed violated the constitution, and that congress shouldn’t be trying to take away the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans.
Support of the RESTRICT Act: Reply to Hawley, Rubio, Schumer, and Massie in the Founders’ Discussion of TikTok
Lobbying money can get in the way of a long legal process. The Senate introduced the RESTRICT Act just before the CEO of TikTok testified in the House. Despite early excitement about the measure, it slowly fell off the radar as opponents lodged their critiques. Ultimately, it failed to move through the chamber.
But Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) maintained his longtime support for taking action on TikTok’s China ties, saying on X after the House vote that “the Senate should take up this bill immediately.”
Senate Intelligence Committee chair and vice chair Mark Warner (D-VA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) said in a joint statement that they were “encouraged by today’s strong bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives, and look forward to working together to get this bill passed through the Senate and signed into law.”
It’s significant that Warner is willing to get behind the House bill, given that he was the lead sponsor of the RESTRICT Act. Warner supported the new House legislation, which shows he is open to other options if he feels threatened by the ownership of TikTok.
Sigourney Norman, an artist and former lawyer who uses TikTok to discuss politics, race, gender and sexuality doesn’t believe that the bill will help protect the data of American users.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has so far been noncommittal about the path the bill could take. Schumer said that after the House passed the bill, the Senate would review it.
Several supporters emphasized that the bill is not an all-out ban, but instead an incentive to force divestment so TikTok can separate its ties to China.
But opponents of the bill on both sides of the aisle echoed each others’ concerns. Opponents fear the bill will be useless and come with bad limits on free speech and government power.
“It’s dangerous to give the president that kind of power, to give him the power to decide what Americans can see on their phones and on their computers,” said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).
Some Democrats expressed reservations about an all-out ban, even though Chew faced bipartisan grilling. And despite the early push from a group of powerful lawmakers, the RESTRICT Act ultimately fizzled out amid a strong lobbying campaign by TikTok and Republican concerns about granting too much executive branch power over the private sector.
The bill could be used to force the sale of other social media platforms, especially mentioning X, which is owned by Musk.
The Chinese influence operations are not limited to TikTok, as noted by Representative Kamlager-Dove. In November 2023, Meta announced that it had removed a massive Chinese influence operation from its platforms that had targeted the US. Some smaller networks had also targeted users in India and Tibet.
According to Palermino, shuttering TikTok Shop would have a negative short-term effect on Dieux, as it is a valuable tool for small businesses. “Losing that would be challenging,” she says. While she’s confident Dieux could pivot to focus on other platforms, she suspects a TikTok ban could seriously impact other independent and up-and-coming brands within the United States in a big way. “It will hurt their business.”
President Biden has indicated he would sign the law, but first it must clear the Senate, where it faces an uncertain future. It is too soon to tell if the House’s legislation will meet a different fate than the others in the Senate.
TikTok’s Shutdown: Why the Chinese National Security Officials Aren’t Proposed to Stop the Mobile App Store
It’s possible to shut down a social media platform if the security threat is so high that it justifying a restriction on online speech.
The 170 million Americans who have already downloaded TikTok are not going to be able to make it disappear. removing TikTok from the app stores would prevent users from getting any further software updates. And experts say without the ability to update regularly, the app would become slow, glitchy, buggy and rife with other problems to the point where using it at all would be just about impossible.
If Biden signs the companion bill into law, the Senate has six months to sell it.
People could turn to virtual private networks, or VPNs, to shield their location and get past restrictions. The technique is very popular in places such as Russia and China, where governments have banned popular internet services.
This is why national security officials in Washington, who have been investigating TikTok’s ties to Beijing for five years, have not approved the plan.
Mnuchin is an experienced Wall Street investor. He worked as a partner with a Hollywood production company before working for President Trump.
TikTok: What do you need to do next? When will you need it? A note from the Treasury Department on the case of Bytedance
Bytedance has pushed back on those claims, saying it has not received a request from China to access the data of Americans and would not share it if asked.
Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday he’s putting together a group of investors to try to buy TikTok, a day after the House passed a bill that could force the Chinese owners of the popular app to sell the business.
It’s recommended that you go to the office. (Really.) Mike recommends Ener-C powdered vitamin drink mix. Lauren reiterates Kate Knibbs’ earlier recommendation of American Fiction, the film that just won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay.
The GadgetLab Hotline: Sunshine and Galaxy Detection (Gadget Lab) at 8:30 AM ET/c
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