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Overwhelming majority of U.S. House members in FL vote to ban TikTok, but three said no • Florida Phoenix [1]

['Mitch Perry', 'More From Author', '- March']

Date: 2024-03-13  

A bipartisan group of Florida U.S. House lawmakers have voted to force the Chinese owner of the popular video social app TikTok to either sell the company, or effectively be banned in the U.S.

The Florida House congressional delegation’s vote was 24-3, with Orlando Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, the young Gen-Z congressman, and two Republicans — Matt Gaetz and Sarasota’s Greg Steube — as the only Florida lawmakers to oppose the proposal. South Florida Democratic Rep. Lois Frankel was listed as “not voting” on the roll call in the U.S. House.

Overall the U.S. House of Representatives passed the measure, 352-65, with 1 “present” and 14 “not voting.”

On Tuesday, Frost, age 27, had announced that he would vote no.

“Let’s be clear that I am deeply concerned about our foreign adversaries accessing our private data online, but this bill is not the comprehensive reform we need to reign in Big Tech and protect Americans from harm and manipulation,” Frost said in a statement. “I refuse to spring a TikTok ban on my constituents who, under the neo-fascist control of Governor DeSantis, rely on social media for income, information, and community.”

“This legislation is an infringement of our constitutional right to freedom of speech that also places a nearly impossible condition for the app to be sold within six months or less — it’s unrealistic,” Frost added. “This bill does not solve our data privacy problems and harms innocent users whose very livelihood and existence is supported by this app. Count me out.”

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is Chinese, and is beholden to laws that require private companies to provide information to Chinese authorities, lawmakers have said. TikTok has come under fire by U.S. officials in recent years who say that China’s government could gain access to its data and use it to manipulate or spy on Americans.

The bill now moves to the U.S. Senate. Both of Florida’s Republican U.S. Senators – Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, have indicated support in banning the app in the past.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio has previously said TikTok should be banned because “it’s bad for America.”

And Scott said last summer that “they shouldn’t be on our phones, period. It’s toxic — it’s communist China propaganda and it’s toxic,” according to 10 Tampa Bay.

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[1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/03/13/overwhelming-majority-of-u-s-house-members-in-fl-vote-to-ban-tiktok-but-three-said-no/

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