The House passed legislation on Wednesday, compelling TikTokās Chinese parent company to sell the app or face a ban in the US due to national security concerns. The bipartisan vote of 352-65-1 was led by Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher, who has long advocated for banning TikTok over fears of Chinese government influence. Gallagher emphasized the risk of allowing a platform owned by a company tied to the Chinese Communist Party to dominate American news and collect user data.
US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) opposed the bill. During her comments on the House floor ahead of the vote, she recalled that Twitter had banned her. She voiced concerns over government overreach in social media regulation, citing personal experience and potential future repercussions.
āI believe that this bill can cause future problems. Itās opening Pandoraās box and Iām opposed to this bill. Most Americans donāt trust the United States government because of our experience dealing with it. Never forget that the United States Government also was the one that provided the Russia hoax to Americans. It also work to ban Americans free speech,ā Green told the US House audience.
Criticizing the bill targeting TikTokās parent company, the representative argued against trusting big tech or government with Americansā data. Highlighting issues of foreign influence, the speaker questioned the billās effectiveness and potential manipulation. Emphasizing the need for broader data protection measures, the representative cautioned against unintended consequences and urged against the billās passage.
MTG isnāt alone in her analysis:
Transcript of her comments:
āI rise today is the only member of Congress that has ever been banned by social media. And on January 2 of 2022, Twitter banned me ban to my personal account on which I was campaigning for Congress, raising money and using my free speech to inform the voters in my district. They can vote for me. This was not by a company owned by China. This was by American Twitter. This came on the heels of our own United States government, working with big tech and working with social media companies to censor and ban Americans free speech.
I believe that this bill can cause future problems. Itās opening Pandoraās box and Iām opposed to this bill. Most Americans donāt trust the United States government because of our experience dealing with it. Never forget that the United States Government also was the one that provided the Russia hoax to Americans. It also work to ban Americans free speech.
It also has worked in so many ways to illegally warrantless spy on Americans through FISA.ā āIf we wanted to be serious about stopping a foreign adversary, if we wanted to be serious about stopping China, we would stop China from buying our US farmland. We would raise up our American energy independence. We would also stop the Green New Deal and not rely on China who owns and operates 85% of the battery market worldwide.ā
āThere are dangers that lie ahead and this this is really about controlling Americansā data. And if we cared about American data, then we would stop the sale of American data universally, not just with China.ā āThereās some further issues. This is a Pandoraās box. Whatās to stop Congress or the United States government in the future from forcing the sale of another social media company claiming that itās protecting Americansā data from foreign adversaries?
I think we could see another Russia, Russia, Russia, and possibly force the sale of x, as many members in this body claim that Elon Musk is altering the algorithms of x. By the way, it was a lon Musk purchase of X that restored my social media account on Twitter and allowed me to have my free speech back on Twitter.
Thereās also members of this body the Democrats are claiming that election meddling can happen on social media Well, we could never forget Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook.
We can never forget the election meddling that happened there. And by the way, American own Facebook and Instagram is where most of the garbage like the gender lies, and the woke lies exist many Americans and many teenagers believe awful things and they donāt just see him on Tik Tok. They see him on Facebook and Instagram too.
I donāt think this will accomplish what the goal is to accomplish.ā So there are other concerns I think here: When the government moves into forcing the sale of TikTok, who would buy it? Thatās the question we should be asking: Who will buy it? Who will be the next to control the data of over 170 million Americans?
Are we going to trust Mark Zuckerberg to control their data? I certainly donāt. By the way, most of the time, my posts on Facebook are shadow-banned, and I certainly donāt have the reach on that social media account. I think that there are many other ways to protect data and I think this this body is capable of it.ā
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