WASHINGTON—This week, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) reintroduced the “Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act’’, or the ‘‘ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act’’. The proposal seeks to ban the TikTok app in the United States for all Americans and gives enforcement over social media to the federal government.
“The ANTI-SOCIAL CCP ACT represents a dangerous precedent where Washington decides what apps live and what apps die, without clear and convincing evidence of wrongdoing,” said NetChoice Vice President and General Counsel Carl Szabo. “The legislation ignores the active conversations happening between CFIUS and TikTok to address U.S. national security concerns with the social media company.”
“These deliberations should be allowed to continue. While a robust conversation about disentangling the U.S. from China should occur, this legislation represents a dangerous step towards government controlling speech online—the very thing the U.S. stands against,” continued Szabo. “In light of the many examples we’ve already seen of government officials trying to suppress speech online, the last thing we should be doing is handing the Biden Administration more power to coerce social media.”
Please contact Krista Chavez at press@netchoice.org with media inquiries.