Trump and Biden are in turmoil over TikTok ban policy

A House committee last week advanced a bipartisan bill calling for the video-sharing platform to be sold off or banned from the U.S., which would be the latest move to separate TikTok from its China-based parent company or ban it entirely. This is the most threatening Congressional effort ever. . House Republican leaders have indicated they plan to bring it to a vote this week, possibly Wednesday.

However, in the last few days, president biden and former president donald trump Each considered the bill in ways that could disrupt the politics of the situation.Biden said Friday he would do so. sign the bill into law If passed after previously supporting an alternative approach. Meanwhile, Trump, who tried to ban TikTok as president, surprised some by speaking out against the ban, but both critics and supporters of the bill say it could become a reality. he claimed.

Their conflicting statements are likely to create pressure on both Republican TikTok hardliners who want a ban and skeptical Democrats who resist it.

Republicans on Capitol Hill have led some of the most aggressive proposals targeting TikTok, including another bill from a senator. marco rubio (R-Florida) and Congressman. michael mccall (R-Texas) explicitly targeted the app and gave the federal government the power to ban it completely. Some people are gaining support from the Democratic Party, but it is limited.

Republicans likely thought they had a like-minded advocate in President Trump, who signed an executive order banning TikTok near the end of his presidential term. But on Thursday night, President Trump posted on his social network Truth Social that eliminating TikTok would only help Facebook, which he called the “enemy of the true people.”he repeated warnings He said in an interview with CNBC on Monday.

This stance surprised some Chinese hardliners, but the timing was inconvenient for the party. katie boyd brit (R-Alabama) said in a Republican rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union address that the Chinese government is using TikTok to “conquer America” ​​by “conquering the hearts of the next generation.” he declared.

But President Trump’s reversal on TikTok wasn’t as sudden as it seemed.

A former Trump aide told The Washington Post in 2022: President Trump’s hostility towards TikTok is waning Around the time of the 2020 election, we learned that internal polling suggested that banning the app would put us at a disadvantage at the polls. President Trump has said little about the app since then. But his comments Monday that “TikTok has a lot of young kids who would go crazy without it” seem to support the idea that he sees TikTok as a losing issue. .

The former president also has some ties to the app. david urbanserved as an adviser to the Trump campaign in 2016 and 2020, and in recent years worked as a lobbyist for TikTok. Recently, a former senior aide to President Trump kellyanne conway Advocating for TikTok in Congress. she said on Saturday. statement She told Politico, which first reported on her efforts, that it would be “draconian” and “reckless” to “alienate 170 million monthly users in the United States.”

Some people, including longtime Trump supporters Stephen K. Bannon — also has highlighted President Trump’s recent financial support is Jeff Yass, a billionaire hedge fund manager whose Susquehanna International Group was an early investor in TikTok. Mr. Yass is one of the biggest donors to the conservative club Club for Growth, which rekindled its relationship with Mr. Trump after the war. long estrangement.

Leading Democratic lawmakers have also expressed concerns about the House bill that directly targets TikTok.

Instead, some have emerged An alternative proposal calls for giving federal authorities the power to more broadly combat apps associated with foreign adversaries.This includes bipartisan legislation led by the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman. Mark R. Warner (D-Virginia) and the Senate Commerce Committee Chairman’s unannounced proposal. maria cantwell (D-wash).

Both efforts have the backing of the Biden administration, which last year urged Congress to “quickly” pass the Warner bill and the Commerce secretary. Gina Raimondo He expressed support for Mr. Cantwell’s efforts. The Liberal Democratic Party has opposed many of the initiatives over concerns that they would infringe on users’ free speech rights, adding further complexity to the political dynamic.

Biden rallies behind House TikTok bill, while Trump appears to downplay potential complications to bill The path to the Capitol Hill walkway is already messy.

Adding to the confusion, Biden’s re-election campaign joined TikTok last month, a move that Warner said sent “mixed messages.” Trump does not have a TikTok account. But his daughter ivanka trump, I participated Last month, I posted via a verified account that hasn’t posted yet.

And of course there are all the other obstacles. Given China’s opposition to any sale of TikTok, waning support for a ban among Americans, the lack of companion legislation in the Senate, and potential conflicts with the First Amendment, be. Last week, TikTok took the unusual step of encouraging users to call their representatives to protest the measure. The telephone line was flooded The other side of Capitol Hill.

Malaysia: Surprise winner of the US-China chip war (Financial Times)

Elon Musk’s xAI to open source Grok chatbot, OpenAI’s latest swipe (Wall Street Journal)

Apple allows users to download iOS apps directly from websites in the EU (The Verge)

Google receives thousands of complaints about deepfake porn (Wired)

Automakers are sharing consumer driving behavior with insurance companies (New York Times)

Airbnb bans indoor surveillance cameras (The Verge)

Trump asks Elon Musk if he wants to buy Truth Social (by Josh Dorsey, Drew Harwell and Jonathan O’Connell)

Parents also have a problem with screen time, teens say (by Heather Kelly)

• The Social Media Restart Institute at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center will host a workshop today at 9:30 a.m. called “Building an Accountability Infrastructure for Social Media and LLMs.”
• The House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation will hold a hearing on “Addressing the Real Harm from Deepfakes” today at 2 p.m.
• ITIF will host the event “Transatlantic Innovation and Competitiveness: Europe’s New Agenda vs. CHIPS and Science Law” on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
• The Brookings Institution will host an event called “The Dangers of AI and Disinformation in Elections” on Wednesday at 2 p.m.
• Public Knowledge will be hosting an event at SXSW.AI in the public interest: trust, consent, and compensation”Wednesday 3:30 p.m.
• The Federal Communications Commission will hold a public meeting on cybersecurity labels for smart products in March. Cable and satellite TV rates.How to define “fast” internet Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

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