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A new bill by Senator Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee and a pair of bipartisan congressmen in the House, introduced a new proposal that aims to ban TikTok from operating in the United States.
The proposed legislation would “block and prohibit all transactions” in the United States by social media companies with at least one million monthly users that are based in or under the “substantial influence” of countries that are considered foreign adversaries, including China. Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela.
BREAKING: Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, Senator Marco Rubio, and Democrat Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi have introduced legislation to ban TikTok from operating in the US pic.twitter.com/eBVskToFDj—Greg Price (@greg_price12) December 12, 2020
The bill specifically names TikTok and its parent, ByteDance, as social media companies for the purposes of the legislation. Rubio and one of the bill’s House sponsors, Wisconsin Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, had indicated their intention to introduce the bill in a Washington Post op-ed last month.
The legislation comes as a wave of states led by Republican governors have introduced statewide restrictions on the use of TikTok on government-owned devices. In the past two weeks, at least seven states have introduced such measures, including Maryland, South Dakota, and Utah.
“The federal government has yet to take a single significant action to protect American users from the threat of TikTok,” Rubio said it’s a statement. “There is no more time to waste in pointless negotiations with a CCP puppet troupe. It’s time to ban Beijing-controlled TikTok forever.”
“It’s worrying that “Rather than encourage the Administration to conclude its national security review of TikTok, some members of Congress have decided to push for a politically motivated ban that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States,” Hilary McQuaide said, responding a TikTok spokesperson.
“We will continue to inform members of Congress of the plans that have been developed under the supervision of our country’s principal national security agencies, plans that we are implementing well advanced, to further secure our platform in the United States,” added McQuaide.
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