While there is a bipartisan contingent on Capital Hill that wants to force ByteDance to either give up its control of TikTok under threat of banning the popular social media platform nationwide, a number of prominent conservatives — including former President Donald Trump — are opposed to such a draconian move.
One GOP lawmaker, Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas, received serious pushback from the right after gloating about his vote in favor of the measure this week.
We just passed legislation out of the House that will separate TikTok from the Chinese Communist Party. You‘ve probably heard lies that this bill is a Trojan horse, or that it doesn’t solve every problem on planet earth. The truth is, this bill just says that TikTok can’t be… pic.twitter.com/MT95Yu9I0R
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) March 13, 2024
Crenshaw has been leading the charge against TikTok since at least early last year, when he joined up for a bicameral effort to punish the Chinese-owned company.
As a press release issued by his office explained in April:
Today, Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Sen. Thom Tillis led a bicameral group of Republican lawmakers in calling on the House and Senate rules to be amended to ban official use of TikTok by Members of Congress.
“It is troublesome that some members continue to disregard these clear warnings and are even encouraging their constituents to use TikTok to interface with their elected representatives – especially since some of these users are minors,” the letter states.“We feel this situation warrants further action to protect the privacy of both sensitive congressional information and the personal information of our constituents. To that end, we urge you to enact a change to the Senate and House rules to ban members of Congress from using TikTok for official use.”
After the vote was announced this week, he and other Republican supporters of the bill were widely criticized.
Dan is being quite misleading here.
The problem with the bill has more to do with the vague pretext which gives the president the authority to determine who is a “foreign adversary” than it does TikTok itself.
This will 100% be used to target political rivals who “dissent”…
— Patrick Webb (@RealPatrickWebb) March 13, 2024
You shouldn’t be allowed to own $META shares if you’re pushing legislation that will directly benefit them. Time to ban congressional stock trading!
— Alex Bruesewitz 🇺🇸 (@alexbruesewitz) March 13, 2024
The TikTok bill is a smokescreen designed to weaponize the president's power against dissident websites and regulate the internet.
The real threat to our privacy, security, and liberty is right here at home. pic.twitter.com/jYOz8jTc4r
— Dave Benner, Nemesis of Neocons (@dbenner83) March 13, 2024
Here’s what Crenshaw had to say prior to heading to the floor for a vote, per Fox:
Wednesday’s 352-to-65 vote in the House came as lawmakers from both parties acted on concerns that the company’s Chinese ownership structure is a threat to national security.
“Millions of Americans are addicted to it. They see it and the Chinese can absolutely manipulate those algorithms. The First Amendment does not give the Chinese the right to American data or to manipulate the minds of Americans,” Rep. Dan Crensaw (R-Texas) said before the vote, arguing in favor of passing the bill.
Alex Haurek, a TikTok spokesperson, said in a statement after the vote that the bill was jammed through as part of a secretive process.
“We are hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, 7 million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service,” Haurek said.
And more on Trump’s take, in case you missed it:
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