The United States House of Representatives voted 352 to 65 passing the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. All four representatives from Arkansas voted in support of the bill.The push in Washington to ban certain apps such as TikTok comes as more lawmakers express their concerns over national security. Rep. Steve Womack released a statement following his vote.“I realize there are millions of TikTok users across the country, including our district. I want these users to understand that our goal with this bill is not to ban TikTok. Our goal is to protect users by separating apps from foreign adversaries, which in this case is the Chinese Communist Party. TikTok is accumulating mass amounts of data, gaining influence over its American users, and using it against them. This exposes us all to serious national security threats. We want TikTok to continue to operate, and it will if they choose to separate from the Chinese Communist Party. I’m proud to support this important legislation,” said Womack.Rep. French Hill also released a statement in support of the bill.“This is not about targeting TikTok – my vote today was about protecting central Arkansans and Americans from surveillance and manipulation by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). There is no separation between national security and the state when it comes to the CCP. TikTok is using CCP dominated technology that is being leveraged to gather massive amounts of data on American citizens, posing a major national security risk. We must protect Americans from the growing threat of the CCP by requiring the sale of TikTok to an American company. Whether TikTok remains on the phones of Americans or not is now up to TikTok’s owner, Chinese headquartered ByteDance,” said Hill.Rep. Bruce Westerman said that the bill isn’t about controlling what’s on TikTok, but instead how it’s run in the U.S. Westerman said he voted in favor of the bill because he doesn’t want the app to harm Americans’ freedom.”I did that because I think this app in particular is detrimental to our freedom here in America. And I think it creates an opportunity for a foreign government to have undue influence in our country, especially when it comes to elections and propaganda,” said Westerman.Westerman added that the bill does not infringe users’ freedom of speech.”It’s not regulating what content can be on TikTok or on any other app. It just regulates how TikTok does business in the United States and where a foreign entity, especially the Chinese Communist Party, can come in and do business like they’re doing with this app. It also puts restrictions on apps from Russia, Iran and North Korea,” said Westerman.The bill is now headed to the Senate. President Joe Biden said if the bill reaches his desk, he will sign it. If Biden signs the bill, parent company ByteDance would have five months to either sell the app, or it would be banned nationwide.
The United States House of Representatives voted 352 to 65 passing the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. All four representatives from Arkansas voted in support of the bill.
The push in Washington to ban certain apps such as TikTok comes as more lawmakers express their concerns over national security. Rep. Steve Womack released a statement following his vote.
“I realize there are millions of TikTok users across the country, including our district. I want these users to understand that our goal with this bill is not to ban TikTok. Our goal is to protect users by separating apps from foreign adversaries, which in this case is the Chinese Communist Party. TikTok is accumulating mass amounts of data, gaining influence over its American users, and using it against them. This exposes us all to serious national security threats. We want TikTok to continue to operate, and it will if they choose to separate from the Chinese Communist Party. I’m proud to support this important legislation,” said Womack.
Rep. French Hill also released a statement in support of the bill.
“This is not about targeting TikTok – my vote today was about protecting central Arkansans and Americans from surveillance and manipulation by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). There is no separation between national security and the state when it comes to the CCP. TikTok is using CCP dominated technology that is being leveraged to gather massive amounts of data on American citizens, posing a major national security risk. We must protect Americans from the growing threat of the CCP by requiring the sale of TikTok to an American company. Whether TikTok remains on the phones of Americans or not is now up to TikTok’s owner, Chinese headquartered ByteDance,” said Hill.
Rep. Bruce Westerman said that the bill isn’t about controlling what’s on TikTok, but instead how it’s run in the U.S. Westerman said he voted in favor of the bill because he doesn’t want the app to harm Americans’ freedom.
“I did that because I think this app in particular is detrimental to our freedom here in America. And I think it creates an opportunity for a foreign government to have undue influence in our country, especially when it comes to elections and propaganda,” said Westerman.
Westerman added that the bill does not infringe users’ freedom of speech.
“It’s not regulating what content can be on TikTok or on any other app. It just regulates how TikTok does business in the United States and where a foreign entity, especially the Chinese Communist Party, can come in and do business like they’re doing with this app. It also puts restrictions on apps from Russia, Iran and North Korea,” said Westerman.
The bill is now headed to the Senate. President Joe Biden said if the bill reaches his desk, he will sign it. If Biden signs the bill, parent company ByteDance would have five months to either sell the app, or it would be banned nationwide.
