‘We need to be very careful’: House GOP split on TikTok ban

In the upper room, one Republican just blocked another from expediting a ban on TikTok.

In the lower House, Republicans are at a loss as to how to respond to an issue that contradicts their anti-CCP stance against their free speech and limited governing principles.

And while House Republicans pressed heavily for a united front following the frenzied speaker’s vote, it became clear during DailyMail.com’s talks with nearly two dozen of them that the leaders have failed to reach a consensus on the politically thorny issue.

House GOP aides admitted that regular members have been left in the dark about how to respond to the dangers of TikTok.

“I think we have to be very careful about this and I’m not going to appear in front of our members here,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer told DailyMail.com in an interview.

The typically aggressive GOP conference — which has been in a legislative blitz since taking office four months ago — must now figure out how to navigate an application used by 150 million Americans but tied to a hostile regime.

And on Wednesday, two GOP heavyweights clashed in the Senate as Sen. Josh Hawley, Mo., sought unanimous approval to pass his bill that would ban TikTok from operating in the U.S., but libertarian Rand Paul, Ky. ., thwarted his efforts, citing concerns about the First Amendment and the Constitution’s ban on Congress from finding a party guilty of a felony.

“Is it a First Amendment issue we’re talking about?” California Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa also wondered about a ban.

“I struggle with that a little bit. I think it’s a market choice that people want to make when using it, but I think a lot of people waste a lot of time playing on their phones with TikTok.”

“If it’s been transferred to another party — if Elon Musk bought it — I don’t see a problem,” he added.

“I’m not big on a TikTok ban,” said freshman Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga. “The fact that it is owned by CCP bothers me. The fact that it’s being used to send the wrong message to our kids bothers me, but this is where parenting comes in.”

He compared the banning of the app to the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s.

“We have to be prepared to make decisions ourselves, because we tried that in the past with a ban – that was not widely accepted.”

Over the weekend, Speaker Kevin McCarthy posted a tweet saying the House will “advance legislation to protect Americans from the technological tentacles of the Chinese Communist Party,” though he didn’t clarify what that might look like.

Rep. Dusty Johnson, chairman of the centrist Republican Main Street Caucus, said he was still exploring what kind of restrictions he will support.

“Obviously telling private citizens they can’t download a private app on a private device is an extraordinary step that our nation should not take lightly.”

Others have been more aggressive about doing away with the video-sharing platform after an energy and trade hearing with CEO Shou Zi Chew earlier this month.

“After the hearing last week and hearing from voters, I am in favor of a TikTok ban,” said Energy and Commerce representative John Joyce, R-Pa. The right to privacy is an inherent part of the rights of American citizens. Not the TikTok calendar.’

“I think we should go as far as banning TikTok… at least a partial ban,” said Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa.

Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., who admitted three Gen Z daughters are likely using TikTok, said he favors a ban. “We have to explain to young people what the national security problems are.”

TikTok and its parent company ByteDance committed an aggressive offense on Capitol Hill by spending $5.4 million in 2022 lobbying a team of 43 in-house lobbyists.

They’ve hired a growing number of Washington insiders to convince lawmakers that their $1.5 billion “Project Texas” will address national security concerns by shielding U.S. data inside the US — but most lawmakers remain unconvinced.

Please rename your project. Texas is not the right name,” said Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, at a hearing with CEO Shou Zi Chew. “We stand for freedom and transparency and we don’t want your project.”

Across the aisle, the House Democrats have also been largely coy about where they stand — their reliance on the young voter share makes them hesitant even to push for a ban. A handful of progressive members like New York Representatives Jamaal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have defended TikTok.

Legislators seeking to pass legislation have not yet united around a single bill.

The Senate’s bipartisan RESTRICT bill is now raising tentative concerns about the executive’s outreach — the bill would allow the executive to ban apps or other online communications it believes are related to foreign adversaries like China.

Secretary of State Representative Michael McCaul’s DATA bill would require the White House to report to Congress whether there are “reasonable reasons” to ban TikTok and, if so, to proceed. While that bill has already been pulled from committee, opponents say it is rushed.

Another bill that amounts to an outright ban — the Anti-Social CCP Act — is being sponsored by Republican Mike Gallagher, Wis., and Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi, California, leaders of the China-Competition subcommittee. That bill, which is spearheaded in the Senate by Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a member of Intel’s rankings, would force CCP-affiliated parent company ByteDance to sell TikTok, which Beijing has said would not happen. or to get rid of the app in the US

The Biden White House is elusive about where it stands, stressing that a national security review is underway. However, President Biden passed the RESTRICT bill that would give his commerce department more power over banning TikTok and other technologies.

Other social media companies like Facebook’s Meta and Google’s Alphabet have seized the moment and launched their own attacks on TikTok in Congress – hoping they can take control of the market once TikTok is gone.

“For data practices, for user privacy, for user safety, for national security breach concerns, they need to look at every platform,” Tech Oversight Project executive director Sacha Haworth told DailyMail.com. ‘The Big Four monopolies have also pursued market share in countries such as China.’

“The lobby against TikTok and the lobby for an immediate and outright ban on TikTok also comes from these platforms,” she said. “They would love nothing more than to see it banned outright, which would only give them more room to develop their own competitive product, because they don’t like to compete.”