Congress Warns Apple And Google They Must Ban TikTok In January
ForbesDec 14
Congress Warns Apple, Google to Prepare for TikTok Ban
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Above: The TikTok logo appears on the screen of a smartphone in Reno, Nev., on Dec. 14, 2024. Image copyright: Photo Illustration by Jaque Silva/Contributor/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The Facts
The leaders of the US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sent letters to Apple and Google's CEOs on Friday, directing them to prepare to remove the social media app TikTok from app stores by Jan. 19, 2025.
Committee Chair John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) emphasized that ByteDance — TikTok's Chinese parent company — has had 233 days since April to comply with national security requirements.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
The TikTok ban has always been about national security, as the app gives the CCP the ability to manipulate Americans' data. Despite critics' accusations, this does not violate the First Amendment because the law targets foreign ownership rather than content, making it a content-neutral regulation subject to intermediate scrutiny. If ByteDance had implemented the initially requested safeguards, the company and its customers wouldn't be dealing with this issue.
Establishment-critical narrative
If you read the text of the bill, it was never focused solely on China, as the only evidence of a threat it posits is a vaguely perceived one. What it does clearly state, however, is that the President of the United States can, from here on out, declare any social media platform a national security threat if he believes some foreign adversary — not just a government but an individual — is influencing it. This law is the beginning of a dark path toward complete government censorship.
