(2024-03-15) EFF 5 Big Unanswered Questions About The Tiktok Bill

EFF: 5 Big Unanswered Questions About the TikTok Bill. In isolation, parts of the argument might sound somewhat reasonable, but lawmakers still need to clear up their confused case for banning TikTok. Before throwing their support behind the TikTok bill, Americans should be able to understand it fully, something that they can start doing by considering these five questions.

1. Is the TikTok bill about privacy or content?

Something that has made HR 7521 hard to talk about is the inconsistent way its supporters have described the bill’s goals. Is this bill supposed to address data privacy and security concerns? Or is it about the content TikTok serves to its American users? Can it be both?

2. If the TikTok bill is about privacy, why aren’t lawmakers passing comprehensive privacy laws?

It is indeed alarming how much information TikTok and other social media platforms suck up from their users, information that is then collected not just by governments but also by private companies and data brokers. This is why the EFF strongly supports comprehensive data privacy legislation

this bill would do little to stop the many other ways adversaries (foreign and domestic) collect, buy, and sell our data

3. If the TikTok bill is about content, how will it avoid violating the First Amendment?

one of the given reasons to force the sale is so TikTok will serve different content to users, specifically when it comes to Chinese propaganda and misinformation. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution rightly makes it very difficult for the government to force such a change legally.

4. Is the TikTok bill a ban or something else?

a forced sale is the kind of speech punishment that receives exacting scrutiny from the courts

Furthermore, a forced sale based on objections to content acts as a backdoor attempt to control speech.

5. Does the U.S. support the free flow of information as a fundamental democratic principle?

In 2021, the U.S. State Department formally condemned a ban on Twitter by the government of Nigeria.

Whether it’s in Nigeria, China, or the United States, we couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, if the TikTok bill becomes law, the U.S. will lose much of its moral authority on this vital principle.