Bill That Could Lead to TikTok Ban Will Receive a Floor Vote This Week Despite Objections From Trump

House majority leader Steve Scalise has announced that a bill that could lead to the banning of the social media app TikTok will receive a vote on the House floor either Tuesday or Wednesday of this week — despite objections from the presumptive GOP presidential nominee and those in his inner circle. The bill, called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act was passed unanimously out of the Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday, with 50 members voting for it and zero voting against it. If adopted, it would force TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to an American company or face a ban. There have long been concerns about the Chinese Communist Party’s ability to access Americans’ data through ByteDance, which is a Beijing-based technology firm. The legislation was written by the chairman and ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Congressman Mike Gallagher and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, respectively. President Biden has said that he will sign the bill if Congress sends it to the White House.Appearing on Fox News on Sunday, Mr. Gallagher called on Congress to pass the bill swiftly, highlighting an incident Thursday where TikTok prompted its users to enter their ZIP codes to be connected to their representatives’ offices. In one case, a young girl called her member of Congress and threatened suicide if they voted for the bill. Another congressman’s office received a call from a teenager pretending to be the representative’s son and demanding to speak with the lawmaker. “The fact that TikTok forced a pop up notification on all its users had them entering their zip code and then automatically called their representatives, in some cases TikTok kids threatening suicide on the phone with their representatives, one impersonating one of my colleagues son, shows you the dangers of this platform remaining under the control of ByteDance and the CCP,” Mr. Gallagher said. In a sign of how likely the bill is to pass, Mr. Scalise is putting the legislation on the floor under suspension of the rules — a process that allows the House to pass legislation without going through the Rules Committee. Passage under suspension requires two-thirds support from all members present and voting for the bill to pass. The Republican-controlled House is almost guaranteed to pass the legislation despite the objections of the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. On the same day the Energy and Commerce Committee was taking up the bill, President Trump said on Truth Social that banning TikTok would only benefit other social media companies that he feels undermine him — this despite the fact that Mr. Trump himself tried to force a sale of the app in 2020. Should TikTok be banned, he said, a copycat made by Meta or another firm could quickly pop up. “If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” Mr. Trump said. “I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!”One of Mr. Trump’s primary opponents who has now become one of the former president’s most ardent defenders, Vivek Ramaswamy, has also reversed himself on the issue, but only after Mr. Trump did. Mr. Ramaswamy previously called TikTok “digital fentanyl,” but now says that the app is no worse than other social media firms when it comes to protecting user data. A top advisor to Mr. Trump, Kellyanne Conway, has also been hired to lobby for TikTok on Capitol Hill. According to Politico, the conservative Club for Growth has hired the longtime Republican strategist to meet with members of Congress to advocate for not passing Messrs. Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi’s bill. Senator Paul also objects to passing the bill, but on First Amendment grounds. “Do you want Biden or any President to be your censor? Do you want Congress to decide what you’re allowed to say and hear and on which platform? Does the government need to save you from your own eyes and ears?” the senator asked on X.

Bill That Could Lead to TikTok Ban Will Receive a Floor Vote This Week Despite Objections From Trump

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