In March, the House passed a bipartisan bill threatening to ban the popular social media app TikTok because user data is stored in China. Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL) discussed the bill in a recent appearance on Fox and Friends, clarifying it was not a flat ban on the app but a means of divestment because "at the end of the day, this is about the Chinese Communist Party not having control of the data and not being able to manipulate the algorithms."
Additionally, Rep. Waltz pointed out that investors outside of China have expressed interest in buying TikTok from its Chinese parent company ByteDance, possibly referring to former Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin, who said, "It's a great business, and I'm going to put together a group to buy TikTok."
After all, the bill would only ban TikTok if ByteDance does not divest from the app within 165 days, meaning "[TikTok] is not going to go anywhere," as Rep. Waltz put it.
"But at the end of the day, this is about the Chinese Communist Party not having control of the data and not being able to manipulate the algorithms without anybody knowing," Waltz continued, pointing out that China has openly spoken about its goals of replacing the United States as the global power.
Host Joey Jones asked Waltz if he was comfortable with the President, regardless of party, attaining the sort of power that control over information would give, claiming this was how people interpreted the bill. For instance, Representative Greg Steube (R-FL) claimed the bill would give pretense for the Biden Administration to target conservative sites.
Waltz clarified, "That is why we are putting it into law. I do not think any president, through executive order, should have this power. And that is why we have a bipartisan law, both sides of the aisle."
Moreover, although Waltz did express concern over the government controlling citizens' information as a conservative, "You should be even more nervous about our greatest adversary having that kind of control over information and what we believe."
