Former Vice President Mike Pence urged Congress to pass legislation that could ban the popular video-sharing app TikTok, arguing that the Chinese-owned company is manipulating young people.
Mr. Pence lauded the House Energy and Commerce Committee for unanimously passing the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act this week.
The legislation, which is awaiting consideration in the full House, threatens to ban TikTok unless the China-based parent company ByteDance doesn’t divest from the app.
“The era of appeasing the Chinese Communist Party is over. Politicians claiming to be ’tough on China’ while simultaneously supporting TikTok spewing CCP-sanctioned propaganda across the world are wrong,” Mr. Pence posted Friday on X. “China is poisoning the minds of American children. Enough is enough.”
He continued, “Congress should pass legislation forcing the sale of TikTok as soon as possible, and President Biden must immediately sign it into law.”
The ex-vice president took credit for paving the way for the bill after former President Donald Trump signed an executive order in 2020 that similarly required ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban.
That move was blocked by multiple federal judges. Now Mr. Trump has changed his tune on TikTok, arguing that banning it would help Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta apps, especially Facebook, become stronger in the social media landscape.
“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business. I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!” Mr. Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social.
The bill has strong bipartisan support, passing out of committee on a rare 50-0 vote. President Biden said he’ll sign it into law if Congress passes the legislation.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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