Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called for the Senate to act to restrict TikTok in a speech on the Senate Floor on April 8.
The Senate minority leader said that the app is “a platform that is beholden to our foremost strategic competitor,” as the Senate has halted the bill that would ban the operation of the social media platform TikTok if parent company, Bytedance, maintains its stake in the company.
“America’s greatest strategic rival is threatening our security right here on U.S. soil in tens of millions of Americans’ homes,” Mr. McConnell said in the Senate floor on April 8.
“I’m speaking of course of TikTok,” he continued.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has not yet committed to bringing the House-passed legislation to the Senate floor, something Mr. McConnell disagrees with.
“This is a matter that deserves Congress’ urgent attention,” Mr. McConnell said. “And I'll support commonsense bipartisan steps to take one of Beijing’s favorite tools of coercion and espionage off the table.”
Concerns about TikTok’s connection to the Chinese Communist Party, also called the People’s Republic of China (PRC), have been at the forefront of the discussion around how the social media app should be approached.
“PRC influence and control has been baked in from the very beginning,” Mr. McConnell said of the social media app.
The Kentucky lawmaker asserted that forcing a divestment of the Chinese-owned parent companies from the social media app would “land squarely within established constitutional precedent.”
Former President Donald Trump expressed similar concerns that TikTok threatens U.S. national security. However, he reiterated worries that a ban on the application would favor rivals such as Facebook.
In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on March 11, when asked if he considers TikTok a threat to national security, President Trump responded, “I do believe that.
During his term in office, President Trump worked to prohibit TikTok’s continued use in its current state via an executive order that characterized “the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China” a threat to “the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
However, after TikTok’s lawsuit, the courts obstructed the action because it violated the rights to free expression and due process.
One point of contention is that the legislation before the upper chamber of Congress targets TikTok and ByteDance specifically.
Some lawmakers believe this is unnecessary and question the bill’s legality.
Additionally, the legislation would offer the president expansive authority to order divesture of almost any entity considered a social media company, whether it was owned—or even “indirectly controlled”—through parent companies, subsidies, or affiliates in China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) believes modifications are necessary, saying it should be moderated from its current form.
“In the end, we want a good piece of legislation,” Mr. Rubio said. “We don’t want to overshoot the target here but we don’t want to miss.”
Sen Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also said he supported the bill but would like to see amendments.
“I’m glad the House passed [it] and I think TikTok poses a real serious threat. I think the [Senate] Commerce Committee should take it up and mark it up and consider it on the merits and consider amendments.”
ByteDance did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.
