A bill that could potentially ban TikTok which passed the U.S. House last week is now arriving in the Senate, where some observers say it faces a graveyard.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican, says he’d like to see restrictions placed on the popular social media app and he believes the legislation -will- pass in the Senate, eventually.
“I am not that pessimistic about it,” Grassley says. “I think it’s going to not move as quickly as it did in the House, but nothing moves quickly the United States Senate. I think it’s going to have a hearing in the Commerce Committee before it gets out of committee.”
The House passed the bill last Wednesday (352-65) that would force ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to sell the app or face being banned across the U.S.
Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Marion, backed the bill, saying ByteDance is beholding to the Chinese Communist Party, and Grassley agrees that TikTok is a threat.
“A good case is made for compromising our national security,” Grassley says. “So much information can be tapped from anybody’s phone, and that’s 170-million Americans, for use as China wants to use it.”
Grassley fears how all that potential data mining could be used to harm the U.S.
“We all know that China is a competitor to the United States, and a potential danger to the world,” Grassley says. Given its wide user base, Hinson said she fears TikTok could even be used to manipulate our elections.