Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 7521, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.

This bill will ensure the divestiture of TikTok from its People's Republic of China-controlled parent company, ByteDance.

Why is it essential for Congress to do this?

It is because the PRC controls ByteDance, and this presents a serious national security threat to our country.

TikTok has 170 million-plus U.S. users, and it collects tremendous amounts of sensitive data. They also collect substantial background data that may be proprietary which may only be available to TikTok.

The national security law of the PRC requires all Chinese organizations to ``support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence efforts.'' Under this law, ByteDance could be compelled by the Chinese Government to provide data on every American TikTok user. They can weaponize this data to exploit and manipulate Americans through surveillance and disinformation.

This legislation separates TikTok's data, algorithms, and source code from ByteDance.

Importantly, this bill does not ban TikTok, something I do not support.

I support divestiture because our first and most important responsibility as Members of Congress is to defend our Constitution and protect and defend the United States of America. The bill would also give Americans secure ownership of their data, including posts, photos, and videos, and give this administration and future administrations the authority to respond to future national security threats.

For all these reasons, I urge all my colleagues to vote for this legislation in the name of our national security.

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