Some members of the U.S. House of Representatives are standing firm on their opposition against a bill that would ban TikTok.
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., told theGrio that banning the app will “take away free speech for 170 million Americans.”
“A lot of the videos on the app are questioning the political establishment, money in politics, and our policy in Gaza,” noted the progressive Democratic lawmaker. He added, “There needs to be a platform where people express their views.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., told theGrio that if TikTok is banned, “It could open Pandora’s Box.”
“If we are forcing the sale of social media companies, how does that affect things in the future?” shared the conservative firebrand.
On Tuesday, 352 House members voted to pass the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, with only 65 members opposing the bill.
ByteDance, the Chinese parent company that owns TikTok, will have six months to divest from the app if enacted into law. If ByteDance fails to terminate its ownership and sell the app to another company, TikTok will be banned in the U.S.
The bipartisan bill was introduced earlier this month by U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., who are members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
Lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle argue that TikTok poses a risk to national security and is allegedly tied to the Chinese Communist Party. If the act is passed into law, legislators argue it would protect Americans from the risk of having sensitive data compromised by using the app.
U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., who voted for the TikTok ban legislation, told theGrio that after speaking with some of her constituents, she learned they are “very uncomfortable with the amount of data that big tech companies and social media [have] on them.”
During a U.S. Senate hearing in March 2023,…
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