The House of Representatives is set to vote today on the bill to force ByteDance to sell TikTok over its alleged affiliations with China’s Communist Party. As summarized by ZeroHedge, “The bill was introduced on March 5 by 19 members of the House Select Committee on the CCP — including Chair Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.).”
While this sounds good, former President Donald Trump has indicated opposition to the measure. In widely reported comments, Trump warned that without competition from TikTok, “you can make Facebook bigger and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people.”
More substantive and concerning criticism has come from Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). The Kentucky Congressman noted that the measure contained an “Exclusion” that restricts the measure’s provisions from being applied to any “entity that operates a website, desktop application, mobile application, or augmented or immersive technology application whose primary purpose is to allow users to post product reviews, business reviews or travel information and reviews.”
This doesn’t seem to cover other types of websites, and Thomas Massie pointed this out in another post on X.
“The so-called TikTok ban is a trojan horse,” Massie said. “The President will be given the power to ban WEB SITES, not jut Apps. The person breaking the new law is deemed to be the U.S. (or offshore) INTERNET HOSTING SERVICE or App Store, not the ‘foreign adversary.’”
This seems ripe for abuse, which should not come as a surprise, considering how active federal authorities have been under the Biden administration in the effort to restrict individual rights and to retaliate against perceived opponents of the administration. In particular, this measure would seem to present a direct threat to the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, which, as a reminder to those in government who may not be familiar with it, reads as follows:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
