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Marco Rubio Renews Push To Ban China’s TikTok In The U.S.

   DailyWire.com
Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, speaks during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee confirmation hearing for Bill Nelson, former Democratic Senator from Florida and administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) nominee for U.S. President Joe Biden, not pictured, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, April 21, 2021.
Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is making a new push to ban China’s TikTok from being able to be downloaded and used in the United States amid concerns that it presents a serious national security threat.

Rubio made the comments during an appearance on CBS News‘ “Face The Nation” with host Margaret Brennan while discussing the company.

“We’re gonna go back to TikTok, people say, you know, ‘Why do we care about what some 16-year-olds are doing?'” Rubio, who is the Ranking Member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said. “I don’t think the threat is that some 16-year-old likes these cool videos that are on there, which I admit are- are attractive, obviously, because the artificial intelligence makes it so. It’s the massive amount of data that they’re collecting, not on one 16-year-old, not on a thousand 16 year-olds, but on millions and millions of Americans that give them commercial advantages, potentially the advantage of being able to shape American public opinion in a time of crisis, that- that just give them an extraordinary insights that allow them to steer the conversation in this country in any direction they want.”

Even Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) agreed about the threat that TikTok poses to the U.S., saying that at the end of the day the company is “still responsible to the Communist Party.”

“138 million users in America use TikTok on a regular basis, average about 90 minutes a day,” Warner said. “I’m sure your network would love to have 138 million Americans spending 90 minutes a day on your network. And I’m not saying that the TikTok or Communist Party is driving the- the videos you see. But the- the fact is, the algorithms that determine what you see on TikTok, is determined out of Beijing by China. And the proof is, if you look at what Chinese kids are seeing on their version of TikTok, which emphasizes science and engineering, versus what our kids and kids around the world are seeing, it is dramatically different.”

Rubio later added that he is refiling legislation this year to ban TikTok in the U.S.

“It’s bipartisan, bicameral. Some people are not willing to go that far, but I certainly think it’s the right place to be,” Rubio said. “But in the end, we got to do something about it, whether it’s a ban or something else. I honestly don’t know, I- as I sit here with you today, I don’t know how our national security interests and the operation of TikTok in this country, as long as it’s owned by ByteDance, can coexist.”

WATCH:

TRANSCRIPT:

MARGARET BRENNAN: You want to ban Chinese companies from investing in America?

SEN. RUBIO: Well, I think there’s certain invest- investments where there’s no way we can protect the country from doing it. You- we’re gonna go back to TikTok, people say, you know, ‘Why do we care about what some 16-year-olds are doing?’ I don’t think the threat is that some 16-year-old likes these cool videos that are on there, which I admit are- are attractive, obviously, because the artificial intelligence makes it so. It’s the massive amount of data that they’re collecting, not on one 16-year-old, not on a thousand 16 year-olds, but on millions and millions of Americans that give them commercial advantages, potentially the advantage of being able to shape American public opinion in a time of crisis, that- that just give them an extraordinary insights that allow them to steer the conversation in this country in any direction they want. And- and these are long-term threats that are extraordinary to the country in- in- in the 21st century.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But this has been talked about for three years now.

SEN. WARNER: But- but let’s–

MARGARET BRENNAN: The Trump administration tried to ban it, the Biden administration still hasn’t pulled the trigger on what to do with TikTok–

SEN. WARNER: Let’s- let’s look- let me build on what Marco just said. And I think again, maybe we were all a little bit slow to recognize the challenge here. It is both a data collection entity. Now it may not collect as much data as some of our American platforms. But it is very much, at the end of the day, still responsible to the Communist Party. But think about this, Margaret. 138 million users in America use TikTok on a regular basis, average about 90 minutes a day. I’m sure your network would love to have 138 million Americans spending 90 minutes a day on your network. And I’m not saying that the TikTok or Communist Party is driving the- the videos you see. But the- the fact is, the algorithms that determine what you see on TikTok, is determined out of Beijing by China. And the proof is, if you look at what Chinese kids are seeing on their version of TikTok, which emphasizes science and engineering, versus what our kids and kids around the world are seeing, it is dramatically different. So both from a data collection, and from frankly, a propaganda tool, it is of huge concern. How we go at this systemically is what- you know- we’re both maybe, at slightly different ways to get there. But I think making sure we educate our fellow Americans and the rest of our colleagues on this challenge is really important.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But- so, CBS spoke to TikTok about their plans and the company said they had come to an agreement over the summer in terms of how they could structure things to separate and create a wall to protect against some of these concerns. They said they can continue operating in the U.S. by offering data protections. Do you both know what they are offering and- you’re laughing, so I’m guessing this isn’t sufficient?

SEN. RUBIO: I- I don’t know what the data protections are. And there’s a technical aspect to it. But it’s beyond the data protections. It’s the ability to- somebody- just let me give you an example, right? What is the Chinese narrative on Taiwan, that it’s part of China, that this is a fake claim, and so forth. And they understand that in this republic, in order for the United States to live up to its commitments to Taiwan, you need to have public support for that, right? Because of the potential high costs to pay for the U.S. to keep its commitments with regards to Taiwan. So if they dedicate years and years to influencing the American audiences through the use of TikTok: the data, and their ability to use artificial intelligence and their algorithms to guide it, to undermine our narrative, and to increase their narrative; we may very well reach a point where there is a Taiwan contingency, and millions and millions of Americans have already bought into years and years of influence from the Chinese. Now- in this country, people have a right to say those things. But to- but we were- think about how fired up everybody was over the fact that Russian trolls and bots were buying ads on Facebook during 2016. This goes exponentially greater than that, in terms of its level of influence and [unintelligible].

MARGARET BRENNAN: So Senator Hawley wants to ban it. Is that sufficient?

SEN. RUBIO: I [CROSSTALK] I filed a bill to ban it last year, we’re going to refile it again this year.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You are?

SEN. RUBIO: It’s bipartisan, bicameral. Some people are not willing to go that far, but I certainly think it’s the right place to be. But in the end, we got to do something about it, whether it’s a ban or something else. I honestly don’t know, I- as I sit here with you today, I don’t know how our national security interests and the operation of TikTok in this country, as long as it’s owned by ByteDance, can coexist.

SEN. WARNER: And I–

MARGARET BRENNAN: You want to force a sale?

SEN. RUBIO: I’ve been wanting to do that for three years.

SEN. WARNER: I’m looking at– listen, Marco and I have the same goals. I may have a slightly different approach. I’m going to sit down and see how we can work through this. But I’ve been hearing it, I’ve been trying to give the Biden administration, now more than two years, to see, is there a technical solution here? And I’d be willing to take a look at it. The Biden administration has not announced that. And I think the problem is, this is technically extraordinarily hard to do. TikTok has repeatedly said, ‘Oh, Americans’ data, not being seen in China.’ And repeatedly, we’ve seen Chinese engineers having access to American data. So how you fully wall that off, but bigger problem to me is, if you are actually still writing the algorithms in Beijing that determine what videos you see, how and if those algorithms on a regular basis get updated, how you put any kind of wall in there, even if there is an American company in between, that will give us the that kind of protection so that we don’t have this kind of manipulation, for example, on the issue like Taiwan.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But it’s already been downloaded 200 million times. And you could host content outside the U.S. How do you make that- you can make the argument here, but how do you convince a 16-year-old to delete the app and get rid of the phone? I mean, is- isn’t this very hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube?

SEN. WARNER: This- this- Absolutely. But this is one of the reasons why. And again, I think Congress has been horribly unsuccessful at this. I’ve been saying for years, and we may not fully agree on this. But on all these social media companies, a lot of good, but there is a dark underbelly. And the fact that the United States, historically, we would have set some rules of the road for these- for these entities, in terms of standards, in terms of protocols, in terms of appropriate behavior, in terms of questions like- even like basic privacy. But our failure to do so has mean, we’ve ceded that leadership, often out of time to the Europeans, or to individual states. And I think that’s, frankly, a loss of American leadership. And, as you said, putting the genie back in the bottle. Whether it’s- whether it’s TikTok, or even privacy on our own platforms, is a real challenge. I think Americans want us to do that. And we got to sort through a way to do it. And I think continued failure of Congress to act just isn’t a good enough response.

SEN. RUBIO: Every technological advance has come with benefits and- and costs. You know, we never had car accidents or drunk drivers until we had automobiles. And the same is true now with technology. So we’re grappling with that. I think the- the- the difference is the speed of innovation today moves so fast. And it moves much faster than the ability of this republic and this elected branches to respond to it. And it requires a level of expertise that oftentimes public policymakers struggle to keep up with because frankly, these industries are changing faster, by the time you’re- you think you understand that it’s become something else.

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