Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » Illinois Democrats Raja Krishnamoorthi, Chuy García at odds over TikTok bill
SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax      Advertise Here      About     Exclusive Subscriber Content     Updated Posts    Contact Rich Miller
CapitolFax.com
To subscribe to Capitol Fax, click here.
Illinois Democrats Raja Krishnamoorthi, Chuy García at odds over TikTok bill

Wednesday, Mar 13, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Press release…

Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party issued the below statement following the overwhelming passage of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.

“Today, a bipartisan group of members came together to address the grave national security risk posed by TikTok. We speak with one voice and carry the same message as the Directors of the DIA, FBI, CIA, NSA, and the head of U.S. Cyber Command — TikTok cannot continue to operate in the United States under its current ownership structure. We look forward to working with our colleagues in the Senate to pass this critical, bipartisan legislation and deliver it to the President’s desk.”

* From Krishnamoorthi’s floor remarks

First, this bill is not a ban, and it’s not about TikTok. It’s about ByteDance. Let me tell you about ByteDance. ByteDance is a 100 percent owner of TikTok. ByteDance is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. In fact, the editor in chief of ByteDance is the Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party cell embedded at the very highest ranks of the company. And he has been charged with making sure that TikTok and all products of ByteDance adhere to quote, correct political direction. This particular bill ensures that ByteDance divests itself of the vast majority of the ownership of TikTok. Our intention is for TikTok to continue to operate, but not under the control of the Chinese Communist Party.

Secondly, this divestment requirement is not new. It’s not without precedent. When the app Grindr, a popular LGBTQ app, was acquired by a Chinese company, and the United States government determined that sensitive data of LGBTQ members of the military and US government officials got into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, they required divestment. This happened quickly. Why? Because Grindr was a very valuable social media company. The same is true with regard to TikTok, and there will be no disruption to users just as there was with Grindr.

Third point. Unfortunately, when Tiktok has appeared before Congress, whether it’s before the House Energy and Commerce Committee or otherwise, it has not been candid, my friends, it has not been candid. First, TikTok said its data is not accessible to China-based ByteDance employees. False. China-based employees routinely access this data, even unbeknownst to employees of TikTok USA. In addition, TikTok said its data will not be weaponized and has not been weaponized against American citizens. Again, false. Published reports have shown that TikTok data geolocation data has been used to surveil American journalists who reported on problems with Chinese-based employees having access to American user data.

Finally. Last week, under the leadership leadership of the Chairwoman and the ranking member, they brought up for consideration our bill before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. On the morning of that vote TikTok delivered a push notification and a pop-up to thousands of users across the country. They used geolocation data targeting minor children to then force them to call congressional offices in order to continue using the app. And in doing so, these children called and they asked the question, ‘What is Congress and what is a congressman?’ This influence campaign illustrates the need for this bill.

Please pardon any transcription errors.

* US Rep. Chuy García…

Congressman Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04) released the following statement after voting NO on H.R. 7521, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act:

“I voted NO on H.R. 7521, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act for three main reasons.

“First, I believe the process was incredibly rushed. It’s very rare for legislation to only take four days to get from committee to the House Floor for a vote, and that shortened timeline meant important stakeholders were sidelined as this legislation took shape.

“Second, I have serious First Amendment concerns about this legislation. This bill would functionally ban the distribution of TikTok in the United States, stripping millions of people in this country—and many young people in my district— of a venue for free expression, information, and community. This legislation also grants the President broad new powers to ban other social media platforms, which invites abuse by future administrations.

“Third, I believe this politicized, piecemeal approach inadequately addresses the numerous national security and data privacy concerns about many different social media companies. I’m an enthusiastic supporter of data privacy legislation that comprehensively addresses those concerns, and I will continue to advocate for legislation that adequately responds to them.”

Thoughts?

       

27 Comments
  1. - cover - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 1:40 pm:

    = I believe the process was incredibly rushed =

    There has been talk about this issue for many years. Maybe the Congressman should have spent more time doing the job he was elected to, rather than spending his time running for a different job.


  2. - Wally - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 1:43 pm:

    I’m with Chuy on this. You can’t unilaterally start to prohibit social media platforms based on allegations. Red scare 2024


  3. - TheInvisibleMan - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 1:45 pm:

    If the problem is the ownership of TikTok being 100% political, that would imply the same actions should be taken against a specific US social media company, now owned/run by the same person/people who are as of this week in full control of the RNC.

    This should be fun. Surely out of hundreds of house reps at least one of them will mention this.


  4. - ChrisB - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 1:45 pm:

    Are we going to ban ZTE and Hauwei phones next? Same principle.

    Because as much as I hate a “slippery slope” argument, it’s quite the slippery slope.


  5. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 1:49 pm:

    If it was 1974 instead of 2024 and the Soviet Union wanted to buy American television stations, how do you think federal regulators would have responded? This is no different than that.


  6. - Drury's Missing Clock - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 1:54 pm:

    Sad to see so many members of congress do protectionism for a handful of developers with extensive education on the west coast when they wouldn’t do the same for the union members working in manufacturing in their own districts. Perhaps the workers of ByteDance’s competitors should just learn to code… better?


  7. - MikeS - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 1:56 pm:

    Did anyone remember the Forbes article showing employees of TikTok tracking multiple journalists covering the company, improperly gaining access to their IP addresses and user data in an attempt to identify whether they had been in the same locales as ByteDance employees?


  8. - Demoralized - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 2:05 pm:

    ==If the problem is the ownership of TikTok being 100% political==

    It’s not. The argument is that it’s a national security issue.


  9. - TheInvisibleMan - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 2:17 pm:

    “The argument is that it’s a national security issue.”

    Is it?


    In fact, the editor in chief of ByteDance is the Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party cell embedded at the very highest ranks of the company. And he has been charged with making sure that TikTok and all products of ByteDance adhere to quote, *correct political direction*.

    There’s nothing ByteDance can do, that most Senators didn’t already approve of when they voted to allow your personal data from social media sites and your ISP to be sold to whoever has the money - including all the things that are supposedly of concern here.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see them paint themselves into this corner and have to justify why the exact same activity is fine if someone pays for it.


  10. - JustMe2 - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 2:21 pm:

    @ChrisB, the FCC banned the sale and import of ZTE and Hauwei equipment in 2022. Give it a google.


  11. - Perrid - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 2:32 pm:

    I don’t like the idea of the government banning ways of communicating because they’re scared of what might happen in the future. If there’s privacy concerns, address that, pass some privacy legislation detailing what can and can’t be done with the data, and if the company violates that law THEN punish the company. Don’t ban the company preemptively because “CHINA BAD”. And sure, this isn’t new, the government has been banning other companies because of ties to China as well. To my mind that’s worse, not a defense.


  12. - Back to the Future - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 2:55 pm:

    Nice to see a nonpartisan agreement in Congress to deal with this national security issue.


  13. - Donnie Elgin - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 3:03 pm:

    “I don’t like the idea of the government banning ways of communicating”

    That “communication” comes at a cost - and knowing that Bytdance must comply with CCP request it is a bit scary…

    “If you sign in with Facebook, information can be shared with the social network too. TikTok says it collects text, images and video from your device’s clipboard if you copy and paste content to or from the app, or share it with a third-party platform”

    https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-data-privacy/#:~:text=If%20you%20sign%20in%20with,with%20a%20third%2Dparty%20platform.


  14. - Fake Reformer Watchdog - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 3:05 pm:

    JJJ was a no too. I wonder who the connective tissue between those two is.

    Actually, no, I don’t.


  15. - Thomas Paine - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 3:15 pm:

    Seems like Facebook, Twitter, and TruthSocial are the elephants in the room that no one wants to discuss.

    Facebook would gladly sell the data to China, X would gladly use it as leverage with China, and Trump would gladly use it for extortion of China.


  16. - Lefty Lefty - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 3:54 pm:

    TheInvisibleMan is absolutely correct. This “fix” isn’t fixing anything. Information is scraped from all social media sites and sold to any operation that has the money to buy it. Banning TikTok is not preventing the CCP from obtaining all the information it wants. It’s likely just less expensive and more direct.


  17. - Under Dawg - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 4:15 pm:

    I’d prefer them to deal with China buying up American factories and paying Americans non livable wages, personally. And stop them from buying up giant swaths of land.

    Seems more of a serious concern than the TikTok app but, hey, not nearly as splashy I’ll give ya that


  18. - Lincoln Lad - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 4:19 pm:

    I’m not a TikTok user, but I don’t understand this at all. There have been documented instances of the misuse of Facebook… the need to regulate social media is bigger than a possible threat from the CCP. We have realized threats from American owned institutions, yet we aren’t doing anything about it.


  19. - Donnie Elgin - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 4:27 pm:

    “I’d prefer them to deal with China buying up American factories”

    Agreed - Smithfield, Eckrich, and even Nathans Famous are all subsidiaries of China’s WH Group. Look elsewhere in grocery.


  20. - Back to the Future - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 4:30 pm:

    @under dawg makes a good point.
    Some state political types actually use taxpayers money to subsidize the CCP operations.


  21. - Leslie D. - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 4:52 pm:

    One more thing, According to an SEC report on 2.22.24, Dimon quietly sold off 821,800 JPMorgan shares, worth $150M.

    Chief Information Officer Lori Beer dumped $716,000
    General Counsel Stacey Friedman sold $1.1 million.
    Troy Rohrbaugh, who serves as co-CEO of JPMorgan’s commercial and investment bank, unloaded $13.7 million in stock.

    Announcement in Chicago was made 2.27.24. They are playing us in our face. Again we got bigger problems than Tik Tok.


  22. - Excitable Boy - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 4:56 pm:

    - If it was 1974 instead of 2024 and the Soviet Union wanted to buy American television stations, how do you think federal regulators would have responded? This is no different than that. -

    This is nothing like that other than being a panic driven red scare reaction. I despise TikTok and won’t use it, but the idea that it’s a major threat to national security is laughable.


  23. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 6:20 pm:

    Laughable? TikTok is a major media platform in the US. It is owned by the Chinese government.

    The British don’t think allowing foreign governments to own media platforms is laughable.

    https://politicalwire.com/2024/03/13/u-k-moves-to-bar-foreign-state-ownership-of-newspapers/


  24. - Excitable Boy - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 7:06 pm:

    - The British don’t think allowing foreign governments to own media platforms is laughable. -

    Last I checked we stopped following their lead a couple hundred years ago. You may as well ban the internet entirely if you think this is going to make a difference in national security.


  25. - ArchPundit - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 7:38 pm:

    Requiring the divesture of ByteDance for it to continue operating in the United States is good policy and as Raja points out, the sale happened easily with Grindr.

    Now, we can also pass a bill that requires western owners to respect reasonable privacy laws as well which would make this a better bill, but let’s start here. Other democracies are way ahead of us on user privacy and we need to catch up.


  26. - Macon Bakin - Wednesday, Mar 13, 24 @ 9:36 pm:

    Solid point Archpundit I haven’t listened to debate yet.


  27. - Zoomer - Thursday, Mar 14, 24 @ 4:16 am:

    My thoughts:

    Whether TikTok presents a national security issue as described is less concerning than Garcia’s commentary on TikTok as a source of “free expression, information, and community”.

    In the context of public education, it is a source of distraction, misinformation, and divisiveness. It is also now a well-researched source of distraction to the learning environment for a large percentage of its youngest users.

    Ever since the launch of smartphones, followed by the launch of social media, in nearly every class period I am teaching in a high school classroom, it is me against 20-30 addicted students who visibly struggle to put their phones away.

    TikTok has only served to exacerbate this.

    There are plenty of sensible forums available for “free expression, information, and community”.

    TikTok most certainly is not that.


Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.


* Reader comments closed for the holidays
* And the winners are…
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Update to previous editions
* Isabel’s afternoon roundup
* Report: Far-right Illinois billionaires may have skirted immigration rules
* Question of the day: Golden Horseshoe Awards (Updated)
* Energy Storage Brings Cheaper Electricity, Greater Reliability
* Open thread
* Isabel’s morning briefing
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today's edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
* Live coverage
* Selected press releases (Live updates)
* Yesterday's stories

Support CapitolFax.com
Visit our advertisers...

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............


Loading


Main Menu
Home
Illinois
YouTube
Pundit rankings
Obama
Subscriber Content
Durbin
Burris
Blagojevich Trial
Advertising
Updated Posts
Polls

Archives
December 2024
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004

Blog*Spot Archives
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005

Syndication

RSS Feed 2.0
Comments RSS 2.0




Hosted by MCS SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax Advertise Here Mobile Version Contact Rich Miller