WASHINGTON—Today, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) introduced 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 give enforcement over social media to the White House.
“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 ongoing deliberations between CFIUS and TikTok to address national security concerns.”
“These deliberations should be allowed to continue in order to maintain Americans’ valuable access to a global platform. 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 government coercion we’ve seen in the release of the Twitter Files, the last thing we should be doing is giving the Biden Administration more power to coerce social media.”
Contact Krista Chavez at press@netchoice.org with inquiries.