A new poll found that more than two-thirds of Americans, a whopping 68%, agree with legislation forcing ByteDance, which is controlled by the Chinese Communist government, to sell its stake in TikTok. That legislation has been passed by the GOP-controlled House and is waiting for Senate passage.
The poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and released by America 2100, also found that 73% of Republicans agreed with the legislation as well as 64% of Democrats and 65% of independents. Seventy-five percent of Trump voters and 67% of Biden voters also agree, and in a telling statistic, 56% of TikTok users echo the sentiment.
“Americans see China for the threat that it is, and they don’t want their social media apps controlled by a hostile foreign adversary,” America 2100 Senior Advisor Nate Hochman stated. “Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats will have to choose between placating a loud, left-wing, TikTok-addicted activist base, and the American majority that wants the Chinese Communist Party out of our tech platforms — and our country.”
News of ByteDance’s involvement with TikTok has apparently spread like wildfire; a massive 84% of Americans know that TikTok is owned by a Chinese company; additionally, 73% are concerned TikTok is owned by China.
On March 13, the House passed the bill that could lead to a ban on TikTok unless ByteDance divested in the popular social media app.
The legislation, known as the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” was approved by a 352-65 vote. Fifty Democrats and 15 Republicans voted against the measure.
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The bill noted that an “entity that violates subsection (a) shall be subject to pay a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed the amount that results from multiplying $5,000 by the number of users within the land or maritime borders of the United States determined to have accessed, maintained, or updated a foreign adversary controlled application as a result of such violation.”
It shall be unlawful for an entity to distribute, maintain, or update (or enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of) a foreign adversary controlled application by carrying out, within the land or maritime borders of the United States, any of the following:
Providing services to distribute, maintain, or update such foreign adversary con- trolled application (including any source code of such application) by means of a marketplace (including an online mobile application store) through which users within the land or maritime borders of the United States may access, maintain, or update such application. Providing internet hosting services to enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of such foreign adversary controlled application for users within the land or maritime borders of the United States.
The penalties could be staggering: TikTok boasted in March 2023 that it had 150 million American users.