The House on Wednesday passed a bill with broad bipartisan support that would force TikTok’s Chinese owner to either sell the hugely popular video app or be banned in the United States.
Republican leaders fast-tracked the bill through the House with limited debate, and it passed on a lopsided vote of 352-65, reflecting widespread backing for legislation that would take direct aim at China in an election year.
It would arguably take less effort to write a more general ban on apps and companies sharing, selling, and aggregating data on users than one specifically carving out foreign-owned companies.
Not doing that makes it clear this isn’t a “first step.” This is a blanket approval of the practice, but with “election year, China bad” thrown in.
Yes, any government access to user data can, and will, be mis-used, including Tik Tok. Opposing this bill isn’t an approval of Bytedance, it’s an opposition to the process.
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