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The House on Tuesday was speeding toward a vote Wednesday on a bill that could lead to the forced sale or nationwide ban of TikTok, reigniting the battle over a massively popular video app that has come to epitomize Washington anxieties over the growing power of social media and Chinas influence.

The legislation is widely expected to pass the House, but it lacks a companion measure in the Senate and faces an uncertain path there, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) pledging in an interview to block any measure that he felt violated the Constitution. Pauls opposition squelched a similar legislative effort a year ago.

Americans choose to use TikTok to express themselves, Paul said Tuesday. I dont think Congress should be trying to take away the First Amendment rights of [170] million Americans.

President Biden has said he would sign the legislation if it cleared Congress.

While proponents say the bill would not ban the app outright, the legislation is an existential threat to TikTok, a cultural juggernaut used monthly by as many as 170 million people nationwide. The legislation would require TikToks parent company, the Beijing-based tech giant ByteDance, to sell the app within 180 days or see it barred from the Apple and Google app stores and web-hosting services in the United States.

TikTok, however, has pointed to comments from the bills supporters, including in its initial announcement, that specifically described it as a ban. China has vowed to block any sale by using export-control measures.

In a letter to members of Congress on Monday, TikTok executive Michael Beckerman said the bill raised serious constitutional concerns and was being rushed through at unprecedented speed without even the benefit of a public hearing. He added, You have preconceived notions about TikTok based on what you read in the media rather than facts or reality.

A vote to approve would mark the first time a chamber of Congress has greenlit legislation that could lead to the nationwide prohibition of a social media platform.

Congressional lawmakers and federal officials have warned for years that TikToks ByteDance ownership might allow the Chinese government to seize Americans personal data or shape the apps video recommendations for political gain.

Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the leaders of the House select committee on China, introduced the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act last week. The bill was rushed to consideration by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which approved it on a 50-0 vote Thursday.

Supporters of the House bill say they expect to garner at least 350 votes Wednesday, enough to clear the necessary two-thirds approval.

Itll be overwhelming, said Mark Montgomery, a former congressional staffer who has advised the committee on this and other technology issues and has worked closely with Gallagher.

Senior Biden administration officials have lent support to the committees effort to craft a bill, including Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco as well as top officials at the National Security Council and in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, who have voiced concerns that China might use the app to gain access to users personal data or use it to influence Americans political opinions.

Federal officials, however, have provided no public examples of the Chinese government harvesting Americans data or altering TikToks algorithms in the five years since they launched a national security investigation into the app. FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, highlighting the risks, has said any tweaks to the apps algorithm would be something we wouldnt readily detect, which makes it more of a pernicious threat. Said another U.S. official, The concern is very real and based on known behavior by the CCP, or Chinese Communist Party.

TikTok officials have said the company is not owned, controlled or influenced by the Chinese government.

The bills critics a diverse mix of civil liberties groups, progressive Democrats and hard-right Republicans have argued that it represents a government overstep of Americans free-speech rights. Gallagher rejected that position this week, saying the bill was about foreign adversary control of a social media application not about shutting down speech. He added, As long as the ownership structure has changed, TikTok can continue, and Americans can say whatever the heck they want on the platform.

Even some of the bills supporters, however, have questioned whether it will face the same fate as former president Donald Trumps push to force a ban or sale of TikTok in 2020, when federal courts ruled the government had not adequately proved that the app presented a national security threat.

A hold by Paul could deal the bill a significant blow, delaying a vote in the Senate by a week or more. The Senate is only in session three of the next six weeks, and faces a calendar of pressing measures related to government funding, taxes and judicial appointments.

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) made no commitments about the measures advancement. Lets see what the House does, he said. I intend to consult with my relevant committee chairmen to see what their views would be.

Congress has previously approved legislation to block TikTok from being used on government-owned computers and phones, and many states have followed suit. Restrictions for apps used by the general public, however, have faced a steeper challenge: In November, Montana had its first-in-the-nation statewide ban of the app blocked by a federal judge, who said the law had a pervasive undertone of anti-Chinese sentiment and violates the Constitution in more ways than one.

TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew landed in Washington on Tuesday night to meet with senators in hopes of shoring up opposition to the measure, said a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

The company offered to pay for some content creators and small-business owners to travel this week to Washington to drive home the apps social and economic value. The creators, who rallied outside the Capitol on Tuesday afternoon, were not paid to advocate on the companys behalf, a TikTok spokesperson said.

Phone lines on Capitol Hill were again blitzed with calls Tuesday from TikTok users who received a phone pop-up urging them to help stop the shutdown. The notification prompted users to enter their Zip code, then presented a call now button to connect them to their local representative.

TikToks opponents said the notification was an unfair push for mass political promotion that backfired; during a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence briefing Tuesday, Krishnamoorthi said it had ended up convincing a number of members from being 'lean yeses to hard yeses.

Beckerman, the TikTok executive, said in his letter to the members of Congress that hearing from constituents was part of the job: One would hope, as public servants, that you would be well acquainted with the constitutional right to petition the government for redress of grievances.

In its annual threat assessment report, released Monday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said TikTok accounts run by a Chinese propaganda arm had reportedly targeted candidates from both political parties during the U.S. midterm election cycle in 2022.

China, the report added, may attempt to influence the U.S. elections in 2024 at some level because of its desire to sideline critics of China and magnify U.S. societal divisions. Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, said in a threat briefing Tuesday that the country cannot rule out similar interference in 2024.

The report did not offer details of the midterm influence campaign, but Forbes reported in 2022 that TikTok accounts run by a Chinese government propaganda arm had accumulated millions of views on videos criticizing some U.S. midterm candidates.

TikTok said in a statement that the company regularly took action against covert influence networks throughout the world, including two Chinese networks operating more than 700 accounts.

The ODNI report did not name other social media platforms, though Meta, which runs Facebook and Instagram, and X, then called Twitter, also reported in 2022 that China-based influence campaigns had used their platforms to try to influence the midterm vote.

The bill has revealed unconventional alliances in Washington. Trump and libertarian Republicans like Paul have joined with the American Civil Liberties Union and other rights groups in calling the bill a government overstep.

Though they are probably too few to stop the House bills passage, some representatives on the partys edges have signaled they will oppose the bill. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said in an X post on Tuesday that the bill was a Trojan horse for government dominance of the web. Xs billionaire owner, Elon Musk, reposted Massies opinion and said the law is not just about TikTok, it is about censorship and government control!

Trump has criticized the bill by saying it would mostly serve to make TikTok rival Meta more powerful, raising suspicions among some Republicans that he was surrendering the effort he kick-started in 2020 due to his own self-interest. A former Trump aide told The Washington Post in 2022 that Trump had dropped the issue when he learned it could hurt him in the polls.

Of the criticism of TikTok, Trump said Monday on CNBC, You have that problem with Facebook and lots of other companies, too: I mean, they get the information and theyll do whatever China wants. He added, Frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok that love it.

His former vice president, Mike Pence, called the app a 21st century technological weapon poisoning the minds of American children in a Fox News essay Tuesday and said Trump had been turned by lobbyists against his own political legacy. Too many politicians talk a big game but crack under the pressure of wealthy donors or personal grudges including my former running mate, Pence wrote.

TikTok has been in negotiations for years with the federal government over a proposal, known as Project Texas, designed to help ease U.S. national security concerns. The program would store Americans data on servers in the United States and give the federal government veto power over decision by a board that would run TikToks U.S. subsidiary. Federal officials have yet to agree to the deal.

Amid the impasse, a bipartisan group of senators last March unveiled legislation known as the Restrict Act that would give the Commerce Department more authority to assess and potentially block technology deals involving companies from countries deemed to be foreign adversaries. The National Security Council endorsed the measure and called on Congress to act quickly to send it to the Presidents desk.

The push lost steam, however, amid bipartisan blowback, including from conservative Republicans who said itd give too much power to the executive branch and liberal Democrats who assailed it as an affront to free expression online.

Lawmakers have floated numerous other approaches, including a yet-to-be-unveiled bill from Senate Commerce Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). But none of them appeared to gain broad enough support to clear either chamber of Congress until the House proposal was unveiled last week.

Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), the lead sponsor of the Restrict Act, said he still had concerns about the constitutionality of an approach that names specific companies. Cantwell, whose panel would probably need to sign off on the new bill, has not indicated whether her committee will consider the measure.

Some of the legislations supporters voiced enthusiasm for moving quickly. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) said Tuesday, Once you sort of peel back the layers of the onion on the layers of the ownership and access to information and what they can do with it, I think it concerns a lot of people. It should.

But others, like Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), worried Congresss rapid embrace of the legislation was a mistake. There are a lot of things that havent been thought through here, he said. The first thing that was said was, Ban TikTok. Lets ban it. That was last year. Now weve done this jujitsu, and its a forced sale. Its a forced sale set up to fail.

Aaron Schaffer contributed to this report.

correction

An earlier version of this report incorrectly reported that Sen. Cantwell said her committee would consider the bill if it cleared the House. She in fact has not indicated how her committee would treat the bill. This version has been corrected.

Continued here:
Sen. Rand Paul might stand in the way of House TikTok bill - The Washington Post

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) got into a heated debate Thursday morning regarding who owns the social media platform TikTok.

Paul was discussing his opposition to banning TikTok and how people need to be more clear on who owns ByteDance, the parent company of the platform. It comes after the House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to pass legislation to force TikTok to separate itself from ByteDance or risk getting banned in the United States.

This is the most important fact of all of this, and it needs to be debated, not assumed as a fact, Paul said on Fox Newss Fox & Friends. The companys owned 60% by international investors, 20% by the two Chinese software engineers who developed it, the entrepreneurs who began the business, and 20% by their employees, 7,000 of whom are American. So, its a very diverse ownership. Its not owned by the Chinese government. In fact, on TikToks board, there are no Chinese nationals that control this or are associated with the government at all. Theyre CEOs from Singapore. So, this is an international corporation, and like every other international corporation, they deserve their day in court. You cant just take their property. Look, I have a lot of arguments with the Chinese communists. I have a lot of arguments with the Saudi authoritarians. But Im not saying we should allow banning anybody to do business with the Saudis because they have an unsavory government as well and because they spy on their people.

Host Brian Kilmeade then asked Paul if he went to a congressional hearing attended by TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Paul said he did not but stated he was aware that TikTok has been working with the U.S. government to stay open in the country, including transferring most of its data to a cloud service in Texas.

Kilmeade then suggested that nobody thinks the Texas project is up and running, to which Paul argued that he himself believes this, claiming that the host was making allegations against TikTok instead of facts. The two then got into a back-and-forth disagreement over who owns ByteDance, with Kilmeade claiming that it was owned by China and Paul reiterating that the companys ownership is a mix of investors, engineers, and TikTok employees.

Banning TikTok in the U.S. has been a divisive topic among Republicans, with Paul being one of several to speak up against the legislation. Earlier in his Thursday interview, Paul suggested that banning TikTok could open the door to get other platforms where news is shared banned, such as X.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Former President Donald Trump is among the people who have spoken out against the move to ban TikTok, reversing his previous stance on the platform.

On Friday, President Joe Biden stated thathe would sign the bill should it ever reach his desk. Despite this,his campaign is still using TikTok, likely as a move to reach younger voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Read more:
Rand Paul gets in heated debate over ownership of TikTok parent company ByteDance - Washington Examiner

Breonna Taylor's mother joined Republican Sen. Rand Paul and Democratic Rep. Morgan McGarvey on Monday to announce the filing of legislation to ban no-knock search warrants in the U.S.You can watch the entire press conference in the player below.The bill is named the "Justice for Breonna Taylor Act.""It's been four years," said Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, during a press conference in Louisville. "It's been hard. It continues to be hard. But I still fight, and I still make sure that what happened to Breonna doesn't happen again. And that's really what's important here."The bill would apply to federal law enforcement, as well as any state and local agencies that receive funding from the U.S. Department of Justice which the sponsors said includes most police departments in the country.Taylor was killed on March 13, 2020, while police were serving a no-knock search warrant on her Louisville apartment in connection with an ex-boyfriend who was being investigated for drug dealing.LMPD officers entered her apartment late at night and Taylor's then-current boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said he fired one shot at them because he believed they were burglars and said they had not knocked or announced they were police officers. One LMPD officer, Jonathan Mattingly, was shot in the leg.The officers returned fire, killing Taylor."There's a better way of doing things," Paul said during the press conference. "I do this not only because I care about the people behind the door. I also care about the police. I think it's a very dangerous risk for police to take. And, you know, there's a lot of better ways to arrest people that don't involve going in in the middle of the night."Paul introduced the bill in June 2020, but it failed to get any traction. He said he hopes partnering with McGarvey and another Democrat, Sen. Corey Booker of New Jersey, will increase the bill's chances for success. "I think all of our community is trying still to heal from this," McGarvey said. "It's hard for me right now standing here with Tamika Palmer, with Breonna Taylor's mom, who endured a pain that, while many of us share, cannot fathom."Similar legislation has been passed by the Louisville Metro Council and Kentucky state legislature.Rep. Keturah Herron, D-Louisville, and Amber Duke, executive director of the ALCU-KY, also appeared at the press conference. No-knock warrants have been banned in Louisville and Lexington and severely restricted in the Commonwealth of Kentucky following Breonna Taylors death, Duke said in a statement. After working on this issue locally and statewide, the ACLU of Kentucky proudly supports this federal effort to limit these legalized home invasions that put lives at risk on either side of a door. We know it was Breonna Taylors dream to save lives, and this proposed legislation would do just that. We applaud Congressman McGarvey and the bills co-sponsors for taking this bold step toward healing and justice. The full bill text of the "Justice for Breonna Taylor Act" can be found here.

Breonna Taylor's mother joined Republican Sen. Rand Paul and Democratic Rep. Morgan McGarvey on Monday to announce the filing of legislation to ban no-knock search warrants in the U.S.

You can watch the entire press conference in the player below.

The bill is named the "Justice for Breonna Taylor Act."

"It's been four years," said Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, during a press conference in Louisville. "It's been hard. It continues to be hard. But I still fight, and I still make sure that what happened to Breonna doesn't happen again. And that's really what's important here."

The bill would apply to federal law enforcement, as well as any state and local agencies that receive funding from the U.S. Department of Justice which the sponsors said includes most police departments in the country.

Taylor was killed on March 13, 2020, while police were serving a no-knock search warrant on her Louisville apartment in connection with an ex-boyfriend who was being investigated for drug dealing.

LMPD officers entered her apartment late at night and Taylor's then-current boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said he fired one shot at them because he believed they were burglars and said they had not knocked or announced they were police officers.

One LMPD officer, Jonathan Mattingly, was shot in the leg.

The officers returned fire, killing Taylor.

"There's a better way of doing things," Paul said during the press conference. "I do this not only because I care about the people behind the door. I also care about the police. I think it's a very dangerous risk for police to take. And, you know, there's a lot of better ways to arrest people that don't involve going in in the middle of the night."

Paul introduced the bill in June 2020, but it failed to get any traction. He said he hopes partnering with McGarvey and another Democrat, Sen. Corey Booker of New Jersey, will increase the bill's chances for success.

"I think all of our community is trying still to heal from this," McGarvey said. "It's hard for me right now standing here with Tamika Palmer, with Breonna Taylor's mom, who endured a pain that, while many of us share, cannot fathom."

Similar legislation has been passed by the Louisville Metro Council and Kentucky state legislature.

Rep. Keturah Herron, D-Louisville, and Amber Duke, executive director of the ALCU-KY, also appeared at the press conference.

No-knock warrants have been banned in Louisville and Lexington and severely restricted in the Commonwealth of Kentucky following Breonna Taylors death, Duke said in a statement. After working on this issue locally and statewide, the ACLU of Kentucky proudly supports this federal effort to limit these legalized home invasions that put lives at risk on either side of a door. We know it was Breonna Taylors dream to save lives, and this proposed legislation would do just that. We applaud Congressman McGarvey and the bills co-sponsors for taking this bold step toward healing and justice.

The full bill text of the "Justice for Breonna Taylor Act" can be found here.

More here:
Breonna Taylor Act to be reintroduced by Rand Paul, Morgan McGarvey - WLKY Louisville

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

March 11, 2024

Contact:Press_Paul@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343

WASHINGTON, D.C.Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) will reintroduce the Justice for Breonna Taylor Act in the U.S. Senate. Congressman Morgan McGarvey (D-KY-03) will introduce the House version of the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. The legislation would prohibit no-knock warrants, which allow law enforcement officials to forcibly enter a home without announcing their authority or purpose.

U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) is an original cosponsor of the Senate version of the legislation. You can read the Senate version of the bill HERE.

Its long past time to get rid of no-knock warrants. This bill will effectively end no-knock raids in the United States, and Im pleased to work with Rep. McGarvey and Sen. Booker on this important legislation,said Dr. Paul.

Louisvillians remember Breonna Taylor and are still grieving the tragedy of her inexcusable killing by police. After Breonnas death, we passed a ban on no-knock warrants at the state and local level if we can do this in Kentucky, we can do this nationally,said Rep. McGarvey.Im proud to partner with Senators Rand Paul and Cory Booker to move this important bill forward in the House and Senate. The Justice for Breonna Taylor Act is going to protect people and keep our communities safe.

Breonna Taylors horrific death nearly four years ago was a flashpoint in our countrys conscience for the need for policing reform. No knock entries where police barge into a home unannounced are one of the most inherently dangerous, and often deadly, law enforcement practices for communities and for officers,said Sen. Booker. No one should ever experience the horror of being startled from their sleep by police executing a no-knock warrant. Many cities and states, including Louisville, Kentucky where Breonna was fatally shot, have already taken steps to enact legislation prohibiting these unlawful procedures, but we must take action at the federal level. I am proud to work with Senator Paul to introduce and pass the Justice for Breonna Taylor Act, a crucial, long-overdue public safety bill to ensure that such tragedies never occur again in our nation.

The bill is named in memory and honor of Breonna Taylor, a Louisville resident and EMT who was killed during a police raid on her home in March 2020, which was conducted under the authority of a no-knock warrant.

The Justice for Breonna Taylor Act would require federal law enforcement officers to provide notice of their authority and purpose before they could execute a warrant, and it would require the same of any state or local law enforcement agency that receives funds from the Department of Justice.

Dr. Paul previously introduced the legislation in2020after working with the family of Breonna Taylor, Game Changers Executive Director Christopher 2X, and others fighting for criminal justice reform.

Kentucky is a leader nationwide in addressing this issue with the State Legislature passing a limit on the use of no-knock warrants in 2021. Dr. Paul and Rep. McGarvey are continuing those efforts on the federal level. Ahead of traveling to Washington, D.C. this week, Sen. Paul and Rep. McGarvey hosted a press conference in Louisville, Kentucky.

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Dr. Paul to Reintroduce Justice for Breonna Taylor Act with Rep. McGarvey Introducing House Version - Senator Rand Paul

WASHINGTON On Monday morning, Tamika Palmer reflected on the four years since she lost her daughter Breonna Taylor, who was killed by police serving a no-knock search warrant at her Louisville home.

It continues to be hard, but I still fight, and I still make sure that what happened to Breonna doesnt happen again," she said at a news conference with state and federal leaders in Louisville. "And thats really whats important here."

Police said they knocked and announced themselves before breaking down the door during the 2020 raid at Taylors home. But her boyfriend, who fired a shot that struck an officer, said he didnt know who was there.

Police fired back, killing Taylor.

Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., are teaming up to try to pass the Justice for Breonna Taylor Act, banning no-knock warrants on the federal level.

It says federal officers executing a warrant, as well as state and local agencies that receive funds from the Department of Justice, must first announce who they are and why theyre there.

Paul first filed the bill in 2020, but it did not have a Democratic co-sponsor and did not move forward.

Im very hopeful that this will move forward, Paul said Monday. Im sorry that it took the death of Breonna to get everybody unified, but people say, Why is there no bipartisanship? Well, we had a terrible tragedy, and now there is.

Since the night of the deadly raid, the city of Louisville banned no-knock warrants, and the Kentucky Legislature passed a law saying the warrants can only be used under certain conditions.

Were saying we are tying this law enforcement money to banning no-knock warrants, McGarvey said. We think it will be very effective in truly minimizing the practice except for the most exigent and egregious circumstances where it can be justified.

Democrats control the Senate and Republicans control the House, and Paul and McGarvey said theyre working to move this forward with bipartisan support in both chambers.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., is co-sponsoring the bill, Paul said. McGarvey added he knows of some Republican members who are interested, including from Kentucky.

Excerpt from:
A look at the bipartisan effort to ban no-knock warrants - Spectrum News 1