Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. DUNN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, a year ago, I asked TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew point blank if ByteDance, its parent company, has spied on Americans on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.

He told me: ``I don't think spying is the right way to describe it.''

Congress has overwhelming evidence that TikTok collects search and browsing histories, keystroke patterns, biometric identifiers, draft messages, metadata, geolocation data, and more.

We're talking an overwhelming amount of sensitive user-data.

This is not just data on adults, but the personal information of our children.

That is the very definition of spying.

TikTok and ByteDance present a serious national security threat.

TikTok functions as a sophisticated surveillance tool--an organization that is bound to the Chinese Communist Party and required by their National Intelligence Law to support Chinese intelligence services.

My esteemed colleagues and I are trying to protect Americans from this dangerous, destructive spyware masked as a simple social media app.

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act will incentivize the divestment of TikTok so that it is no longer controlled by a China-based entity.

This bill does not punish individual social media users, censor speech, or impact apps or websites that sever ties with companies controlled by foreign adversaries.

The First Amendment does not protect espionage.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on H.R. 7521, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.

This bill would prohibit the distribution, maintenance, or provision of internet hosting services for any foreign adversary controlled application unless they execute a qualified divestiture as determined by the President.

More specifically, under this bill, ByteDance would be required to divest themself from Tiktok in order for the application to remain in operation.

As one of the most dominant social media platforms in recent history, it currently has over 150 million active users in the United States alone.

Much of this success could be attributed to the application's algorithms being used to generate specifically curated content for each user on their respective ``For You'' pages in a short-form, infinite scroll format.

Upon the rapid success of this content format, other social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube have all followed suit.

This has only further entrenched the massive success of the company among its users.

This success is not without caveat, however.

Recent studies conducted by researchers at Rutgers University found a disturbing underrepresentation of certain topics on the platform.

Though pop culture and political terms were represented roughly proportional to other platforms, topics involving Uyghurs, Tibet, Tiananmen Square, and the Hong Kong protests were severely underrepresented.

In addition, many valid concerns have been raised regarding the issue of national security and foreign government interference.

Many stakeholders argue that the vast amount of data harvested from American users poses a threat to our data security and democracy.

With the vast amount of American users on the platform, particularly individuals under the age of 24, I recognize the need to ensure security in our national democracy.

I hope, moving forward, that we can join together in taking action to protect our youth from harmful actors while also safeguarding their freedom of thought.

More investigation must happen to decide the next steps for TikTok. I will pursue the next steps before finalizing a complete ban. What company will be the purchaser? All must be answered before the best decision can be made.

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