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A2 UP FRONT
Tuesday 4 april 2023
Members of Congress on TikTok defend app’s reach to voters

data would be managed
by U.S. employees through
a separate entity run inde-
pendently of ByteDance
and monitored by outside
observers.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis
of North Carolina took the
unusual step of releasing
a public statement urging
all members of Congress
to stop using TikTok, includ-
ing from his home state —
seemingly a jab at Jack-
son, who is one of the more
active members with more
than 1.8 million followers.
“I was just saying if we’re
having a discussion about
TikTok then I think we ought
to at least reduce the pull
factor by elected officials
who can simply come off of
it,” Tillis said this week, when
asked about his statement.
“I don’t have a TikTok ac-
count. So that was an easy
separation for me.”
Loud warnings about TikTok
Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., joined by the popular app's supporters, leads a rally to defend TikTok at the Capitol in Washington, have also been coming
Wednesday, March 22, 2023. from President Joe Biden’s
Associated Press administration. Secretary of
Continued from Front as Republicans and Demo- the real problem is Con- Tok, because, again, we’ve State Antony Blinken and
crats alike pressed Chew gress doesn’t have a lot of looked the other way and FBI Director Christopher
But there is no more robust about TikTok’s content expertise, whether it be so- allowed Facebook and Wray have told Congress in
and expeditious way to moderation practices, its cial media or, for that mat- other platforms to do simi- recent weeks that TikTok is
reach young people in the ability to shield American ter, more importantly, tech- lar things.” a national security threat.
United States of America data from Beijing and its nology.” Critics of TikTok in Con- Blinken told lawmakers the
than TikTok,” Democratic spying on journalists. Garcia, who said he uses gress say their opposition threat “should be ended
Rep. Dean Phillips of Min- “I’ve got to hand it to you,” TikTok more as a consumer, is rooted in national secu- one way or another.”
nesota told The Associated said Rep. August Pfluger, said most of his colleagues rity, not politics. TikTok is a But some members are un-
Press. R-Texas, as members ques- who are proposing a na- wholly owned subsidiary of convinced.
Yet the lawmakers active tioned Chew over data se- tionwide ban told him they Chinese technology firm “It’s like turning your cell
on TikTok remain a distinct curity and harmful content. had never used the app. ByteDance Ltd., which ap- phone off on an airplane.
minority. Most in Congress “You’ve actually done “It gets hard to understand points its executives. They You’re supposed to do.
are in favor of limiting the something that in the last if you’re not actually on worry Chinese authorities And if it was super danger-
app, forcing a sale to re- three to four years has not it,” the freshman Demo- could force ByteDance to ous, I don’t think we will be
move connections to China happened except for the crat said. “And at the end hand over TikTok data on allowed to have the phone
or even banning it outright. exception of maybe (Rus- of the day, a lot of TikTok is American users, effectively on the plane,” Rep. Greg
The U.S. armed forces and sian President) Vladimir harmless people dancing turning the app into a da- Landsman, D-Ohio, said
more than half of U.S. states Putin. You have unified Re- and funny videos.” ta-mining operation for a Wednesday, “So if it was
have already banned the publicans and Democrats.” “It’s also incredibly rich foreign power. The compa- super dangerous for mem-
app from official devices, While the hearing made educational content, and ny insists it is taking steps to bers of Congress to have
as has the federal govern- plain that lawmakers view learning how to bake and make sure that can never this app on their phone,
ment. Similar bans have TikTok as a threat, their lack learning about the political happen. you have to imagine the
been imposed in Denmark, of first-hand experience process,” he said. “The basic approach that administration or our gov-
Canada, Great Britain and with the app was apparent Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D- we’re following is to make ernment would say abso-
New Zealand, as well as at times. Some made inac- N.Y., who has more than it physically impossible for lutely not, you can’t have it
the European Union. curate and head-scratch- 180,000 followers on the any government, including on a government phone.”
Criticism of TikTok reached ing comments, seemingly app, held a news confer- the Chinese government, Concerns about what kind
a new level last week as not understanding how ence with TikTok influenc- to get access to U.S. user of content Americans en-
CEO Shou Zi Chew testi- TikTok connects to a home ers before the hearing. He data,” general counsel Er- counter online, or how their
fied for more than six hours Wi-Fi router or how it mod- accused Republicans of ich Andersen said during data is collected by tech-
at a contentious hearing erates illicit content. pushing a ban on TikTok for an interview with the AP on nology companies, also
in the House. Lawmakers Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., political reasons. Friday at a cybersecurity aren’t new. Congress has
grilled Chew about the who is active on the app “There are 150 million peo- conference in California. been wanting to curtail the
implications of the app for and opposes a nationwide ple on TikTok and we are TikTok has been emphasiz- amount of data tech com-
America’s national security ban, called the hearing more connected to them ing a $1.5 billion proposal panies collect on consum-
and the effect on the men- “cringeworthy.” than Republicans are,” to store all U.S. user data on ers through a national pri-
tal health of its users. And “It was just so painful to Bowman said. “So for them, servers owned and main- vacy law, but those efforts
the tough questions came watch,” he told the AP on it’s all about fear-monger- tained by the software gi- have stalled repeatedly
from both sides of the aisle, Friday. “And it just shows ing and power. It’s not Tik- ant Oracle. Access to U.S. over the years.q