Cruz says controversial TikTok bill ‘will benefit’ the app’s users

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in an interview on Wednesday that he has made a controversial move to force TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance to sell the popular app or face a ban in the United States. He said users would benefit from the proposed legislation.

After a confidential briefing for TikTok’s senators, Cruz argued that preventing the Chinese Communist Party from exerting influence over the app’s content is in users’ best interest and will improve their experience on the app.

“To the people who use and enjoy TikTok, this is not about getting rid of it,” Cruz said in a Fox News interview with Bret Baier. “It’s about forcing China to sell, taking TikTok out of the control of the Chinese Communist Party and into the hands of American companies, into the hands of someone who is not an enemy of China or the United States.”

“I think that’s very important,” Cruz continued. “And it will benefit TikTok users and everyone else as well.”

Cruz explained that there are two concerns about China’s relationship with the app. He is concerned about the “threat of espionage and surveillance by the Chinese Communist Party” for the 170 million Americans who use TikTok.

“They have the ability to monitor what they are saying, what they are doing on their phones, and where they are. I think this is a real privacy risk for Americans who may not have access to the Internet,” Cruz said.

Second, Mr. Cruz said he was concerned about promoting propaganda. This is both for China’s own benefit, for example “suppression of information about Tiananmen Square, Hong Kong and Tibet”, and is also a way to negatively impact children.

“They’re pushing all kinds of harmful garbage on our kids. Self-harm, mutilation,” Cruz said, adding, “Here they’re making our kids chew on tide pods. “We are forcing them to do so,” he added.

Cruz’s comments come after the bipartisan House-passed TikTok bill, which critics have branded a “ban” but which lawmakers note still leaves 165 days to sell ByteDance. He echoes the sentiments of many of his fellow senators who are trying to reshape the narrative around him. Allow TikTok and the app to continue running in the US

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) said Wednesday that the “number one priority” for him and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is to protect the nation’s population, especially the nation’s roughly 100 million people. He said he wanted to make this clear to TikTok’s 10 million users. The US insists the bill is not intended to take away “creativity” or the ability to make money from the use of the platform.

“What’s important is the ability to make sure that the creativity that’s happening on this platform can’t be manipulated. So that this creativity that’s happening on this platform can’t be manipulated by the Chinese Communist Party,” Warner said.

Their efforts to change the narrative are such that the company is leading a campaign on its app ahead of the House vote, encouraging users to call their legislators and ask them to block the bill by calling it a “TikTok shutdown.” It started after I called.

A bill to protect Americans from regulatory applications by foreign adversaries still passed quickly through the House. It passed a House committee on a unanimous vote earlier this month, just days after it was first introduced, and was passed on the floor less than a week later by a vote of 352-65.

Cruz said he hopes the Commerce Committee will consider the bill with a markup at some point, and hopefully a public amendment process.

“While I am not convinced that the language passed by the House will become law, I am pleased that the House is acting to address this very serious threat,” he said.