Former Vice President Mike Pence has launched a $2 million ad buyout to pressure Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to support a House bill that would force China to sell TikTok.
Advancing American Freedom, a conservative advocacy group led by Mr. Pence, announced that it will launch an ad campaign next week targeting voters in Nevada, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Montana and Washington, D.C. . These regions are key regions for the November election and are also where TikTok is active. Defense and lots of advertising.
AAF’s video ads The campaign builds on Schumer’s past calls for the Chinese-owned social media app to be “shut down in America,” and on how voters will urge him and state and Washington, D.C., senators to vote in favor of selling TikTok. This is in parallel with what was urged.
“My hope is to launch this ad campaign in a way that truly invites Sen. Schumer and the Democrats to move forward and agree with the positions they have taken so far, and to use this to ignore politics and move legislation.” ‘We’re going to address very real national security threats to the American people,’ Pence said Tuesday in a roundtable with The Post and other reporters.
A spokesperson for the New York senator told the Post in a statement: “After the Senate recess ends, Sen. Schumer will discuss the best way forward with his colleagues.”
TikTok launched a $2.1 million ad buy last week in key states and Washington, D.C., as senators tried to dissuade the House from passing a divestment bill.
Pence said he believes the Senate must pass the bill by Memorial Day. Otherwise, Congress would become “caught up in politics and positions” and the bill would not be considered for the remainder of the 2024 presidential election cycle.
“I think TikTok today represents a real-time national security threat to the United States,” the former vice president said. “This is a huge platform for interfering in our elections, and it’s also a huge platform for flooding our country with propaganda supporting China’s actions in the Asia-Pacific.”
Pence said TikTok “has undoubtedly shaped public opinion among young people” about the war between Israel and Hamas after the terrorist group invaded the Jewish state on Oct. 7.
He also warned that TikTok could have a devastating impact on public opinion if China invaded Taiwan.
“It is hard to think that in the event of military action in the Taiwan Strait, the Chinese Communist Party would have real-time access to 170 million Americans to advance propaganda against American interests in the interests of its allies. “This is unacceptable,” he stressed. “That’s how high the stakes are here.”
TikTok/@tiktok
Last month, the House of Representatives voted 352-65 to pass a TikTok bill that would require Chinese state-owned ByteDance to sell the app within 180 days.
The bill, which has been the subject of intense lobbying by the app and its users, must pass the Democratic-controlled Senate and be signed into law by President Biden.
President Biden agreed in March to sign the House bill if it passes both chambers of Congress.
The bill, known as the Protecting Americans from Applications Controlled by Foreign Enemies Act, would also ban access to other apps controlled by foreign adversaries such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
Schumer has not yet announced whether he will vote on the bill. Some Senate Democrats are proposing changes to the bill as it is still in committee.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) predicted future legal challenges by TikTok, potentially extending the timeline for the app to find a U.S. buyer. , is already preparing to introduce some changes, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
But when asked if the bill needed amendments, Pence told the Post: There was general expectation that the bill would pass in the Senate.
“And I know the Senate doesn’t have a history of showing deference to the House, but just to be clear, we have over 350 votes in the House,” he said. . “And more importantly to me, the vote in the Energy and Commerce Committee was 50-0.
“This is a platform that’s very popular with young people, and there’s no question that people can raise capital to put this together,” Pence said, citing that effort by former Trump-era Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. pointed out.
At the same time, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) are urging the Biden administration to provide information on Chinese apps to inform voters about vulnerabilities in user data. He asked that it be declassified.
“TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is tied to the Chinese Communist Party by Beijing’s strict laws that force companies to hand over their users’ personal data,” Blackburn told the Post in a statement. “If TikTok wants to remain in the U.S. market, it needs to move away from the control of the Chinese Communist Party, plain and simple.
“To protect our national security interests, the Senate should take up this matter quickly and declassify the information provided to Congress so the American people understand the exact threat we face.” Should.”
Pence told the Post that Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Ranking Member Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) had disclosed information about the Chinese government obtained from U.S. intelligence agencies. He said he was “100%” in favor of declassifying access information. TikTok user data.
Other privacy-minded lawmakers, such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), say the bill raises First Amendment concerns.
Some TikTok users make a living from the app, and if the app is shut down, even temporarily, before a non-Chinese buyer is secured, it would stifle free speech. The app claims that there is a possibility that
“China is not entitled to First Amendment protections,” Pence said.
“The U.S. Constitution explicitly gives the federal government the authority to regulate international commerce,” he said. “All this business about constitutional issues is a red herring.”
Representatives for Mr. Cantwell did not respond to requests for comment.
