How Kentucky’s members of Congress voted on bill that could lead to a TikTok ban
Kentucky members of Congress split 4-2 in favor of legislation that would force the sale of TikTok, the hugely popular Chinese app and social media platform.
The bill would trigger a ban of the video app beloved by many, from celebrities and politicians to companies, news outlets and legions of young people, if ByteDance doesn’t divest control within 165 days.
It easily cleared the House with a bipartisan vote Wednesday, 352-65.
Kentucky Republican Reps. Andy Barr, James Comer, Brett Guthrie and Hal Rogers voted in favor of the forced sale. GOP Rep. Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Morgan McGarvey each cast “no” votes.
Barr complained the Chinese Communist Party was using the app “to spread lies to my constituents.”
“This is NOT a TikTok ban, but would strip ByteDance, an arm of CCP espionage, from the ability to spy on American citizens,” Barr wrote on another social media platform, X.com, formerly Twitter.
Massie helped lead the debate against the forced sale of TikTok, which boasts 170 million U.S. users.
“Americans have the right to view information. We don’t need to be protected by the government from information,” Massie said on the House floor. “Some of us just don’t want the president picking which apps we can put on our phones or which websites we can visit.”
In all, more House Democrats voted against the legislation than Republicans, creating an unusual cross-partisan dynamic both inside and outside the halls of Congress.
Sen. Rand Paul is against a ban, arguing against “reactionaries” who believe TikTok data can’t be secured in the U.S.
“Sixty percent of the company is owned by US and international investors,” Paul argued Wednesday. “The CEO of TikTok is from Singapore, not China. So ask yourself why they keep repeating this lie to scare you?”
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican, said that TikTok’s parent company still sits in Beijing.
“There’s no First Amendment issue here. We are not going after TikTok because of what the videos say. It’s because of the conduct of their parent company. Their parent company is under the complete control of a foreign government that’s hostile toward the United States,” Rubio said on Fox News this week.
While it faces an uncertain outcome in the Senate, President Joe Biden has said he would sign a ban into law, which could have enormous implications on the 2024 campaign and the voting decisions of young voters.
Nearly 47% of U.S. TikTok users are under the age of 30 and the Biden campaign recently opened its own account to reach a core base of the Democratic Party.
Still, “if they pass it, I’ll sign it,” the president recently told reporters.
Former President Donald Trump recently argued against moving to ban TikTok, reversing himself from his old position from four years ago when he spearheaded the original move against the app.
“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” Trump said recently, referring to Meta’s owner Mark Zuckerberg.
“We have that problem with Facebook and lots of other companies too,” Trump told CNBC regarding the national security threat TikTok poses. “They get plenty of information ... and they’ll do whatever China wants.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2024 at 12:50 PM with the headline "How Kentucky’s members of Congress voted on bill that could lead to a TikTok ban."
