The House Committee on Energy and Commerce unanimously passed two bills meant to protect the data of Americans and to force social media giant TikTok to divest from its Chinese ownership. The committee's decision allows the bills to advance to a full vote in the House of Representatives.
Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) said the effort was vital to ending the attempts of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to "target, surveil, and manipulate Americans."
"Protecting Americans' data and addressing the serious national security threat posed by the CCP has been my top priority of all Congress. We have given TikTok a clear choice: Divest from your parent company, which is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party, and remain in operation in the United States, or side with the Chinese Communist Party and face a ban," McMorris Rodgers said.
The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act would force social media apps determined to be controlled by foreign adversaries that present a national security threat to the U.S. to divest from these parent companies within 180 days of enactment of the bill, or these applications will be prohibited in the United States.
"The Chinese Communist Party poses the greatest national security threat to the United States of our time. TikTok's access to 170 million American users makes it a valuable propaganda tool for the CCP to exploit and use for nefarious purposes," McMorris Rodgers said.
The committee held closed-door sessions to hear classified intelligence briefings from various agencies regarding how TikTok allegedly serves the CCP through its parent company, ByteDance.
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The U.S. government is presently investigating ByteDance for using TikTok geolocation data to follow and harass American journalists who exposed the CCP’s governing role in the corporation.
McMorris Rodgers connected the incident to the government's laws, which permit the CCP to access any data stored within China, a system she cited as "spying by design." She added that as long as TikTok stayed under effective CCP control, it would remain a security threat.
"Our adversaries choose to rule through fear and control. Companies controlled by a foreign adversary like the CCP will never embrace American values, virtues of our society and culture like freedom of speech, human rights, the rule of law, a free press, and others," McMorris Rodgers said.
House also passes legislation banning sale of Americans' personal information to China
The committee also unanimously passed legislation that would prohibit the sale of Americans' personal information to China by data brokers.
Such brokers are presently permitted to mop up user data from practically all websites and then sell that data directly to China.
Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) compared the legislative action to wartime limitations on radio and television in the 20th century.
"Most Americans are unaware that data brokers compile dossiers about their interests, beliefs, actions, and movements, and Americans are powerless to stop this violation of their privacy," Pallone said.
The committee may have been motivated to act after a huge spam campaign set up by TikTok recently.
The social media corporation started targeting users with location-specific information, providing them with contact information of their local representatives on the committee and persuading them to demand a "no" vote.
Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) said such behavior was exactly why the bill must be passed.
"I think it's just further reason why we need to ban TikTok. This company is clearly politically motivated," Burlison explained.
Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union and other free speech advocacy groups pressed lawmakers to reject the TikTok bill, stating in a letter to the Energy and Commerce Committee's leadership that "passing this legislation would trample on the constitutional right to freedom of speech of millions of people in the United States." (Related: Biden joins TikTok despite national security concerns.)
Read more news related to China at CommunistChina.news.
Watch the video below about the CCP waging "global political warfare" against America using TikTok as a weapon.
This video is from the GalacticStorm channel on Brighteon.com.
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