A small yet growing coalition of Democrats has come out in support of TikTok as the threat of a national ban looms over the China-affiliated app.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) have spoken out against proposed restrictions on TikTok that the White House and many Republicans have backed in recent weeks. The three, known as members of the “Squad” — the group of lawmakers furthest to the left in the House of Representatives — became vocal on the matter a week after the House Energy and Commerce Committee questioned TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew about the company’s relationship with China and its privacy practices.
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Omar voiced her opposition on Tuesday, arguing that a TikTok ban was not comprehensive enough. “We should create actual standards and regulations around data harvesting and privacy violations across social media companies — like many countries around the world have already done — not ban particular platforms we don’t like,” Omar said in a statement.
Omar also argued that problems of disinformation are not solely on the TikTok app and that banning TikTok would do little to change China’s human rights violations.
Ocasio-Cortez posted her first TikTok on Saturday, arguing that banning TikTok does not address “the core of the issue.” She pushed for Congress to pass legislation protecting Americans from “this kind of egregious data harvesting” that TikTok and other social media companies engaged in.
Bowman joined with Reps. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Robert Garcia (D-CA) on Wednesday to host a press conference opposing a ban. Bowman also questioned claims that TikTok could send U.S. data back to China. “I haven’t seen any hard evidence that TikTok is committing some form of espionage,” the New York congressman told NBC News on Monday. “What I’ve heard is speculation. And what I’ve heard is innuendo.”
“The idea that, ‘Oh, TikTok is the boogeyman’ — it’s just part of a political fearmongering that’s happening,” he added.
Chew answered several questions during his Thursday appearance before Congress but found few allies in the committee. The questioning focused on determining if the Chinese Communist Party influenced TikTok’s leadership, how CCP laws apply to TikTok user data, and what efforts TikTok is using to alleviate the harmful effects the app is having on mental health. Chew found himself frequently interrupted and unable to elaborate on several occasions by members on both sides of the aisle.
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Democratic and Republican members in the House and Senate have proposed several measures to restrict TikTok in the U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has written a bill to ban the app outright. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced bipartisan legislation to provide extra powers to the Commerce Department to analyze and determine if a foreign business deal threatens national security.
“They’ve actually united Republicans and Democrats out of the concern of allowing the [Chinese Communist Party] to control the most dominant media platform in America,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) told ABC’s This Week on Sunday.
It’s unclear how the remaining members of the Squad, including Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Cori Bush (D-MO), Summer Lee (D-PA), Greg Casar (D-TX), and Delia Ramirez (D-IL), would vote on a TikTok ban.
