Social media platforms with ties to “adversary nations” would be cut off from US-based businesses under the proposed law
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers seeks to ban TikTok and other networks they believe to be a threat to national security. The companies could be barred from having any interaction with American businesses or organizations.
The bill, called the ‘ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act’, was introduced in the Senate on Tuesday by Marco Rubio, a GOP senator from Florida. A companion House bill was sponsored by Republican Representative for Wisconsin Mike Gallagher and Democratic Representative for Illinois Raja Krishnamoorthi.
The draft law specifically identifies TikTok and its owner, ByteDance, as subject to the proposed ban, but would apply to any major social media network with ties to “adversary nations,” including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela. The threshold for being blacklisted was set at 10% of the voting stock being owned by an entity in one of these countries.
The sponsors justified the banning of “all transactions” by the risk that foreign governments could use the apps to spy on American citizens and manipulate the flow of information they receive.
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“Allowing [TikTok] to continue to operate in the US would be like allowing the USSR to buy up the New York Times, Washington Post, and major broadcast networks during the Cold War,” Gallagher said.
He and Rubio first announced the upcoming bill in a Washington Post article published last month, in which they lashed out at the administration of President Joe Biden for supposedly failing to act against ‘the Chinese threat’.
In 2020, then-President Donald Trump issued an executive order to ByteDance to sell or spin off its US TikTok business. A lengthy court battle and several rounds of bargaining followed. The Biden administration revoked Trump’s threat of sanctions, but kept the pressure on. A deal on how TikTok can operate in the US in a way that Washington deems safe is reportedly in the final stage of negotiations at the moment.
“It is troubling that rather than encouraging the administration to conclude its national security review of TikTok, some members of Congress have decided to push for a politically-motivated ban that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States,” a TikTok spokesperson said, reacting to the new bill.
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A full ban on TikTok in the US is a “possible but not most likely scenario,” Bank of America analysts said, as quoted by CNBC last week. US-based competitors such as Meta and Google would stand to benefit most from this, they added.
US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is preparing to leave the Trump administration after what a new report has described as months of tension with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, potentially triggering another change at the army’s top echelons.
According to the Friday report by The Wall Street Journal, Driscoll is expected to step down before the end of the year and could leave his post earlier. The newspaper cited people familiar with discussions over his departure.
The Journal reported that Driscoll and his family vacated the official residence assigned to the army secretary at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall this summer, a move that could indicate he was preparing to leave the position.
The reported departure would come at a time of continuing uncertainty at the top echelons of the army.
Hegseth abruptly removed Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George in April, while Trump has not yet nominated a permanent successo....more below
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The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) warns the enemies that any act of aggression against the Islamic Republic will not go unanswered.
In a statement on Thursday, the IRGC issued a “stern warning” to the enemies after US forces launched strikes against the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.
Following the US military attack on a point on the outskirts of Bandar Abbas Airport with aerial projectiles, the IRGC carried out new strikes targeting the US air base from which the attack originated in the wee hours of Thursday, it added.
“This response is a serious warning to the enemy that they should know the act of aggression will not go unanswered,” the IRGC emphasized.
The elite military force warned of a “more decisive” response if the enemy repeated any act of aggression.
It also said the responsibility for the consequences of any IRGC response lies with the aggressor.
The statement comes after the IRGC Navy on Thursday forced an American tanker to turn back. The tanker ...
