TIKTOK ON THE CLOCK: Ferguson among U.S. representatives that voted to ban social media platform
Published 5:51 pm Wednesday, March 13, 2024
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The U.S. House passed a bill Wednesday that would effectively ban the social media platform, TikTok, in the United States.
Representative Drew Ferguson, who represents Georgia’s Third Congressional District, which includes Troup County, was among the 352 representatives in the House that voted to pass the bill. Sixty-five voted against, 50 of those representatives being Republicans and 15 being Democrats.
Marjorie Taylor Greene and Nikema Williams were the only Georgia representatives to vote against the ban.
The bill, which would prohibit TikTok from U.S. app stores unless TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, sells the company, will now move to the Senate. The fear is that ByteDance, a Chinese company, could be forced to hand over data on U.S. citizens to the Chinese government.
TikTok is used by 170 million Americans.
The bill gives ByteDance approximately five months to sell TikTok. Otherwise, the app would be banned from the Apple Store, Google Play Store and similar U.S. app stores.
President Joe Biden has expressed support of the bill.
“If they pass it, I’ll sign it,” Biden said Friday of the bill.
Former President Donald Trump, who signed executive orders that would’ve banned TikTok near the end of his presidency, is against the ban. Trump reversed course on the executive orders during his presidency as well.
Trump has called Facebook an “enemy of the people” in recent interviews, and he said banning TikTok would only help Facebook.
“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial. “I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!”