Sen. Josh Hawley Skeptical Senate Will Pass TikTok Bill

With the uncertain fate of TikTok in the Senate, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is making clear his support of a House-passed bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the video app if its China-based owner does not sell.

TikTok, which has more than 150 million American users, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese tech firm ByteDance Ltd.

Hawley told Axios he is skeptical the House-passed bill would get the go-ahead in the Senate, with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., noncommittal.

“My observation is that people say: ‘I agree with the idea in principle but have concerns,'” Hawley said. “That basically means we should never do anything. What we’re likely to see happen in the Senate is people will nickel-and-dime it, a death by a thousand cuts. Nothing that Big Tech doesn’t want moves across the Senate floor.”

He added his security concern is data.

“The app collects way more information than it needs to feed its algorithm, and that information is available to the Chinese Communist Party upon request,” he told Axios.

“I don’t think we want Americans’ text messages to be read, or their geolocations to be available to the CCP, so it can build a dossier on every American,” he said, adding, “maybe that’s to feed its own AI or for some other reason, but it is a hostile foreign government that’s been behind hacks of other U.S. citizen information.

“It’s not really what’s on the platform itself … that’s a red herring.”

TikTok’s popularity makes it difficult to take away from Americans,according to Hawley.

“There’s a reason TikTok is so popular, and it’s not because it’s a spy app,” he continued.

“It’s because of the design of the platform and the algorithm,” he told Axios. “Whether or not TikTok itself is purchased, many will try to compete … and what we really should hope for is that competition, which would create increased opportunity for creators.

“TikTok is essentially using American creators as a shield when it’s not an American company.”