Many support banning the social media app TikTok due to its effects on younger people, their culture, and the influence it has in increasing the adoption of dangerous political rhetoric while being overseen by the Chinese Communist Party owned tech firm, ByteDance. It has become a growing concern for many, that a foreign-owned company has had such control over the data and contact information of millions of Americans, especially as much of it concerns minors.
Earlier this year, Sen. Josh Hawley (R) introduced the No TikTok on United States Devices Act, prohibiting TikTok from being available to law enforcement and government officials working in national security. The legislation lists a number of concerns about data collection on behalf of the Chinese government for political and militaristic intelligence purposes. While the bill was shot down by a unanimous vote last week, it is one piece of legislation that both Democrats and Republicans seem to support as it focused on one individual company and its dealings. Although the bill has been scrutinized for being “anti-free market” and having too much overreach in federal power, it was primarily praised by many Republicans as a piece of legislation that concentrates on a central issue that both sides of the aisle are concerned about.
The Misuse of the Act.
Unfortunately, Democrats and neoconservatives within the U.S. Senate could not help themselves from giving the federal government even more power through yet another piece of legislation. Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Mark Warner (D-VA) brought forth a bill called the RESTRICT Act, which would allow the United States government to create a digital Patriot Act that abuses American citizens’ privacy rights.
The Act would give ambiguous, abusive, and overreaching power to the federal government to oversee the communication of all US citizens, both abroad and at home. It would allow the Department of Commerce (DOC) and Director of National Intelligence to dignify foreign adversaries without congressional consent, allow a broad power of using “any mitigation measure to address any risk” the government decides is harmful to the country, and allow the DOC to forward vast amounts of private information to the FBI, CIA, NSA, DNI, and DOJ without punishment or limits.
The bill is one of the most significant proposed expansions of federal government authority through the United States Senate in history. While Warner and Thune seem to have plenty of information available to argue in favor of the bill, stating that it aligns with Hawley’s motivation to ban TikTok, some other co-sponsors of the legislation have no idea what they are even supporting. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) recently appeared on Fox News, and was grilled by Watters’ World host, Jesse Watters, on the text of the legislation. After being reprimanded on some of the reasons Watters called it “garbage,” Graham explained that he did not know the specifics of the bill that he had co-sponsored, and would come back on the show to discuss it once he was better informed.
https://twitter.com/DeplorableHank1/status/1641455385100812290
More of the Same.
This case is very telling on how the U.S. Senate and congress as a whole work. A logical issue is brought up by one Senator, expressing their concern with passion, reason, and a specific solution to address a specific point. Thereafter, other members consider that issue an opportunity to provide the governmental bureaucracies more power to suppress the rights of private citizens further. And, then, it subsequently receives bipartisan support due to senators not even bothering to read the legislation they support.
While many conservatives want TikTok banned from public usage – and for a good reason – this legislation is simply too authoritarian to be supported. Therefore, Republicans in the U.S. Senate should do everything to ensure this bill fails, otherwise it will subsequently become the more dangerous Patriot Act if passed.
