‘We’ve Got a Lot of Work To Do Around All Social Media Platforms’: Dem Explains TikTok Vote
Top Intelligence Democrat said "no" to legislation
The top Democrat on the House intelligence committee described why he voted “no” on the legislation aimed at TikTok, despite the bipartisan worry over China and US national security.
Rep Jim Himes, of Connecticut, was one of 50 Democrats to vote against the bill, which would force TikTok's Chinese parent company to sell the wildly popular social media platform or face a ban in the U.S.
If enacted, the bill would give ByteDance six months to divest from TikTok before app stores would start prohibiting access.
The final vote was 352-65 on Wednesday. Fifteen Republicans also voted against the TikTok bill.
The legislation came together after Democrats and Republicans voiced concern that China’s government could access the sensitive personal data of Americans using the popular app.
Himes said that although he respects those supporting the TikTok legislation, American civil liberties also are at play.
“But I will tell you that one of the things that’s happening right now on Capitol Hill is that people are falling all over themselves to appear hawkish against China,” he said, in an on-camera appearance with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “And that instinct is not a bad one. China is doing lots and lots of things that we would rather that they did not do.
“But China is also a place where we do $700 billion of trade. It’s a place where we have, you know, certain common interests that we should be working together on,” Himes added. “And so just because the Congress is falling all over itself for each member to demonstrate how hawkish they are on China, that doesn’t mean that, you know, compromising the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment, the Constitution that we all take an oath to support, that that’s necessarily the right thing to do.”
Former Trump administration Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin — a wealthy financier — is making a play to acquire TikTok, but that wouldn't be much better, according to Himes.
“He’s got a lot of foreign investors,” he said. “Just is that a better option?”
If lawmakers are going to regulate social media, there are other companies that they should be looking at, too, Himes said.
“By the way, don’t get me wrong here, I would much happier if TikTok were not ultimately owned by a Chinese company. I would be much happier if their algorithms are here in the United States,” he said. “I’m not going to say that Steve Mnuchin is the guy but I hope that there is a disposition there.
“But remember, Andrea — and this is really important you know, Facebook, Twitter, all these other social media platforms are completely unregulated, completely uncontrolled, because the Congress has failed its basic duty to pass privacy legislation,” Himes said. “Until we do that, Andrea, the way the Europeans have, the way the state of California has, we’re not really in a position to be overly preachy about the dangers associated with social media.
“Those dangers — like I said, spend 10 minutes on — on Twitter, X, and you’ll see we’ve got a lot of work to do around all social media platforms before we start getting high and mighty about one in particular.”
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