For TikTok, it’s TikTok.
Time is running out for a federal law to ban TikTok, the video-sharing social media app owned by Chinese company ByteDance, from operating in the United States. On Friday, the Supreme Court unanimously supported Some laws, but Member of Parliament Looking to extend the deadline, President Joe Biden has clearly shown He wouldn’t enforce the ban anyway.
But ironically, some of the same lawmakers who voted for this unprecedented ban are still using apps that they consider too dangerous for the rest of us to use. .
In March 2024, the House of Representatives Act to protect Americans from regulatory applications by foreign adversariesby a vote of 352-65. that’s later passed The Senate also won 79-18.
The bill prohibits operating or hosting “applications controlled by foreign adversaries (such as TikTok)” in the United States. TikTok will have a certain amount of time to find a buyer or cease operations in the country. The clock runs out on January 19th, so unless ByteDance can wrap up the sale overnight, there’s a chance the U.S. servers will go out.
Although details are still unclear, lawmakers have warned that apps used by hundreds of millions of Americans could be subject to the whims of authoritarian surveillance states like China, with national security implications. It has been pointed out that there is a possibility that
However, as Joe Jorgensen, the Libertarian Party’s 2020 presidential candidate, pointed out in an article, post This week on X, several members of Congress who voted to ban TikTok at the federal level still maintain accounts on the app.
A list of people who voted to ban Tiktok who also happen to be still using Tiktok.@CoryBooker @sensherrodBrown @BobCasey @JohnFetterman @gillibrandny @SenMarkey @pattymurray @SenOssoff @SenatorWarnock @JeffJacksonNC
Tell me again how dangerous it is…
— Jo Jorgensen (@JoForLiberty) January 15, 2025
Mr. Jorgensen will be joined by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Bob Casey, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Sen. Ed Markey. (D-Mass.), Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia), then-Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), then-Rep. Jeff Jackson (D-NC) currently serves as North Carolina’s attorney general.
“I want you to tell me again how dangerous that is for national security,” Jorgensen added.
(A TikTok account called “Pastor Raphael Warnock” exists but is not verified by the platform, Warnock’s staff said.) reason This is a “fake account” that is “not operated by Team Warnock.” )
After the House vote, newsweek Also compiled A list of 12 representatives who voted in favor of the bill but maintain active verified TikTok accounts. Some of them, including members of the Diet at the time. Colin Allred (D-TX), lost his Senate bid to Ted Cruz. adam schiff The former House Intelligence Committee chairman (D-Calif.), who won a U.S. Senate seat in November, still maintains an active TikTok account.
recent booker and marquee introduced A bill to extend the deadline by 270 days from January to October. in April 2024 TikTok videosBooker said he only voted for the ban because House Republicans agreed. packaged It was packaged into a larger bill that included aid to Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine.
“If this bill were introduced in the Senate as a standalone bill, I would vote against it,” Booker said. “This is not the way I think government should work. It’s one of those frustrating moments for me in Washington. Someone gets the people to support them even though they disagree with them. As a strategy for this, they impose on you a bill that you absolutely must pass, something you don’t agree with.
Not all senators were so cautious. “We must protect Ohioans’ personal information from the Chinese Communist Party,” Brown said. Said in 2023. “I have serious concerns about this company’s relationship with the Chinese government and will continue to work with members of both parties to consider how to best protect the privacy and national security of Ohioans. I’ll go,” he said. brown I started He created a TikTok account while running for re-election later that year. He lost to Republican candidate Bernie Moreno in November 2024.
Some people don’t use apps often. fetterman Not posted since December 2023. Gillibrand and malay I haven’t posted since the end of 2022, and Ossoff hasn’t posted since 2021, before voting in favor of the bill, but the account remains active.
Meanwhile, Jackson gained a large following on TikTok even as he voted in favor of a possible ban.
“I attended several briefings about this app, and it was truly alarming,” Jackson said in the article. apology video he posted on TikTok after voting. “When I was reading the bill, what I agreed with was the part that tried to force a sale, because I thought this would be a better app if I didn’t have to worry about what would potentially come with it. Because it’s controlled by a hostile government. ”
“What I didn’t like was the part that threatened banning,” Jackson added. But, he added, “The reason I voted for it is because I truly believe the chances of a ban are virtually zero.”
Similarly, after the House passed the bill, Fetterman Posted in X “This law restricting TikTok does not ban the app; it cuts ties with the Chinese Communist Party and prevents the Chinese Communist Party from accessing the data of Americans, especially our children.”
However, with the deadline looming and no buyers in sight, a ban seems increasingly likely.
It’s entirely possible that Democrats will secure an extension, or that Biden will choose not to implement the ban before he leaves office the next day, at which point President-elect Donald Trump will There is a possibility that the argument of pledge “Save” the app. But for some Democrats, the bill would apply unprecedented sell-or-die provisions to private platforms, justifying it as important to countering existential threats, and then continue using the apps themselves. Voting yes is infuriating.
“It’s hypocritical to prevent other people from using an app because ‘it’s so dangerous!’ and then use it yourself,” Jorgensen said. reason by email. “If it’s too dangerous to national security for others to use, then we shouldn’t use it. Politicians see the benefits of TikTok, just as millions of Americans do.” We’re using it because we’re… This is just another example of politicians thinking they know how to run our lives better than they do now. .”
