Press Releases
Washington, D.C. — Florida Congressman Daniel Webster, R-Clermont, today voted to pass H.R. 7521, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, legislation that protects Americans from surveillance by applications owned by foreign government adversaries.
“This bill prevents foreign government adversaries from being able to target Americans and threaten our national security through social media applications,” said Rep. Webster. “TikTok, a company that is owned and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, spies on and collects a concerning amount of data on Americans. Having access to this data on Americans allows the CCP and Chinese intelligence services to target and manipulate users, just as we saw play out in real time as TikTok used false messaging to prompt users to call their Representative.”
ByteDance, the owner of TikTok is headquartered in Beijing, subjecting TikTok to the control of the Chinese Communist Party in a way that American social media apps are not. The Chinese government leads the world in using surveillance and censorship to keep tabs on its populations, repress dissent, and counter perceived threats abroad. TikTok’s source code is housed in China and its content selection relies on a proprietary China-based algorithm which empowers the Chinese Communist Party to exploit TikTok for potentially malign uses. H.R.7521 only applies to applications controlled by foreign adversaries - China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia.
Webster further commented, “Today’s bill utilizes a targeted and narrow mechanism to protect Americans from national security threats by ensuring applications owned by foreign adversaries are unable to collect data and surveil American citizens. Importantly, it does this without targeting Americans or granting the President any expanded authority over social media applications.”
“This bill prevents foreign government adversaries from being able to target Americans and threaten our national security through social media applications,” said Rep. Webster. “TikTok, a company that is owned and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, spies on and collects a concerning amount of data on Americans. Having access to this data on Americans allows the CCP and Chinese intelligence services to target and manipulate users, just as we saw play out in real time as TikTok used false messaging to prompt users to call their Representative.”
ByteDance, the owner of TikTok is headquartered in Beijing, subjecting TikTok to the control of the Chinese Communist Party in a way that American social media apps are not. The Chinese government leads the world in using surveillance and censorship to keep tabs on its populations, repress dissent, and counter perceived threats abroad. TikTok’s source code is housed in China and its content selection relies on a proprietary China-based algorithm which empowers the Chinese Communist Party to exploit TikTok for potentially malign uses. H.R.7521 only applies to applications controlled by foreign adversaries - China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia.
Webster further commented, “Today’s bill utilizes a targeted and narrow mechanism to protect Americans from national security threats by ensuring applications owned by foreign adversaries are unable to collect data and surveil American citizens. Importantly, it does this without targeting Americans or granting the President any expanded authority over social media applications.”
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