The Congressional TikTok Ban is a bad idea, and Republicans promoting and advancing it make it worse. We can wonder why they are helping Biden’s agenda but a greater issue is wanting any president to have the ability to censor any social media platforms at an executive whim.
I mentioned it here, but several readers suggested that it deserves more focus.
BREAKING: New TikTok ban bill HR7521 gives the Executive Branch of government the power to define any platform/website as “foreign owned” even if domestic, giving them the ability to control/censor the content being published by the company. pic.twitter.com/asgStv4zXx
— Patrick Webb (@RealPatrickWebb) March 13, 2024
To be fair, there is some debate about definitions in the bill that are purposefully vague, which, to my mind, is rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic. There should be no bill and no definitions, certainly not vague ones. That wiggle room means the ability to act first and answer questions later in court. A backdoor enforcement mechanism to shut down large platforms – maybe near an election, for example – because those in power decided they presented some sort of threat.
How long before that applies to any website of any size if this passes?
Not Your Job
Funny thing about free speech. That’s the point. Open, unencumbered debate is meant to threaten the status quo—directed at officers, politicians, and institutions to ensure they do not become too comfortable. There are no circumstances under which the US Government should ban, censor, silence, mute, manage, or manipulate public debate—ever. The public has first dibs on that through more speech and debate.
We also have rules for incitement that are purposefully tricky. Legal measures are in place to police legitimate threats, which, by the way, do not include violating every other form of speech in which that person(s) might engage.
The TikTok ban is a bad idea, not just because, as written, it might empower Executive Office abuses but also because it seeks to silence a platform that ironically is doing more to protect the First Amendment (at least in America) than the government trying to suppress it. A government that spies on its citizens and scrapes their data for nefarious purposes—and we’re not talking about China.
This is America trying to be more like the thing they claim to oppose, crafting laws in an attempt to make it legal.
