SPOKANE, Wash. — A bill that could potentially ban the social media app TikTok from the United States is on its way to the Senate, and Washington state's 5th District representative believes it's an important step in protecting Americans.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) was one of 352 lawmakers who voted in favor of a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the popular video app TikTok if its China-based owner doesn't sell, as lawmakers acted on concerns that the company's current ownership structure is a national security threat.
McMorris Rodgers has been a long-time advocate of restricting TikTok on American devices, stating it is a national security threat to have adversaries like China controlling apps. She said the bill doesn't seek to ban TikTok, but rather asks the company to break away from its parent company ByteDance, which she said is owned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
"[TikTok is] wildly popular, they have 177 million Americans. But that also means they have the user data of 177 million Americans," McMorris Rodgers said. "And we know that we cannot trust the Chinese Communist Party to protect American user data or to uphold American values, like freedom."
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was questioned by the House Energy Committee, which McMorris Rodgers is the chair of, last March. Since that hearing, McMorris Rodgers said lawmakers have spent months crafting a targeted approach to protecting Americans and their data from being surveilled.
"Our intelligence agencies in briefings have told us they see [TikTok] as a tool of the Chinese Communist Party because they ultimately control the the data of 177 million Americans," she explained. So we have worked to target a response that is going to protect Americans from adversaries. We're working separately on a national data privacy and security bill that I also see as a priority for this Congress."
Washington Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell sent KREM 2 statements regarding the House passage of the bill and its future in the Senate:
“I’d like to hear from more experts and discuss some different proposals further," Murray said. "The concerns about the Chinese Communist Party’s unquestionable influence over TikTok are absolutely warranted, but I want to be certain we are weighing the merits of alternative proposals that would deal with the larger issues at hand in a systematic way, while protecting civil liberties, rather than singling out one company.”
“I’m very concerned about foreign adversaries’ exploitation of Americans’ sensitive data and their attempts to build backdoors in our information communication technology and services supply chains," Cantwell said. "These are national security threats and it is good members in both chambers are taking them seriously. Following today’s House vote, I will be talking to my Senate and House colleagues to try to find a path forward that is constitutional and protects civil liberties.”
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