The House voted Wednesday to pass legislation that could ban TikTok in the United States as Republicans and Democrats alike sound the alarm that the popular video-sharing app, owned by ByteDance, is a national security threat. The vote was 352-65, with one member, Jasmine Crockett, voting present. The bill now heads to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain fate and there appears to be less urgency to act. Fifty Democrats and 15 Republicans voted against the bill. Among them were progressives as well as conservatives like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who lamented that she had previously been banned from social media. The top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Jim Himes of Connecticut, was a surprising no vote. He also cited free speech issues with the bill. TikTok has mounted an aggressive lobbying campaign to kill the legislation, arguing that it would violate the First Amendment rights of its 170 million U.S. users and harm thousands of small businesses that rely on it. “This process was secret and the bill was jammed through for one reason: it’s a ban,” the company said on X. Paul Tran, who, with his wife, has a skin care company called Love and Pebble, protested at a pro-TikTok rally outside the Capitol on Tuesday, with a message for members: “You will be destroying small businesses like us; this is our livelihood. We’ve created success.” He said their business nearly shut down last year until TikTok Shop came along and “totally exploded our business.” Now 90% of their business comes from the app, he said. “If you pass this bill,” Tran said, “you will be destroying the American dream that we really believe in.” Despite that push, the bill sailed through the House, raising pressure on the Democratic-led Senate to act. President Joe Biden, whose 2024 campaign joined TikTok last month, has said that if the bill reaches his desk, he will sign it into law. Its backers say it’s wrong to call the legislation an outright ban. Dubbed the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the bill would create a process for the president — through the FBI and intelligence agencies — to designate certain social media applications under the control of foreign adversaries as national security threats. Once an app was deemed a risk, it would be banned from online app stores and web-hosting services unless it severed ties with entities under control of the foreign adversary within 180 days of the designation. That means TikTok, which FBI Director Christopher Wray has testified poses a risk to national security, could face a ban unless ByteDance acted quickly to divest it.(SD-Agencies) Words to Learn 相關(guān)詞匯 【引爆】yǐnbào explode cause to move with sudden speed and force 【剝離】bōlí divest rid oneself of something 美眾議院周三投票通過一項(xiàng)法案,或?qū)е耇ikTok在該國被禁,共和黨和民主黨都警告說,字節(jié)跳動(dòng)旗下的這款熱門視頻分享應(yīng)用威脅到國家安全。 表決結(jié)果為 352票贊成、65票反對,其中茉莉?克羅克特投了棄權(quán)票。該法案將提交參議院,是否能通過還不確定,該院也并不急于表態(tài)。 50名民主黨人和15名共和黨人對該法案投了反對票。其中既有進(jìn)步人士,也有像馬喬里?泰勒?格林這樣的保守派,她對自己此前被某社交媒體平臺(tái)禁號(hào)表示遺憾。情報(bào)委員會(huì)的民主黨大佬、來自康涅狄格州的吉姆?海姆斯出人意料地投了反對票。他認(rèn)為該法案涉及言論自由。 TikTok發(fā)起了一場聲勢浩大的游說活動(dòng)來阻止這項(xiàng)立法,認(rèn)為它將侵犯其1.7億美國用戶的第一修正案權(quán)利(信仰和言論自由),并損害數(shù)以千計(jì)依賴該平臺(tái)的小企業(yè)。該公司在 X 上說:“整個(gè)過程是秘密進(jìn)行的,法案被強(qiáng)行通過的目的只有一個(gè):這是要禁掉TikTok。” 保羅?特蘭和妻子一起經(jīng)營著一家名為Love and Pebble的護(hù)膚品公司,周二參加了國會(huì)大廈外舉行的抗議集會(huì)來支持TikTok,他表示:“法案將摧毀我們這種小本生意,毀掉我們的生計(jì),我們原本生意不錯(cuò)。”特蘭說,去年公司差點(diǎn)兒倒閉,幸虧在TikTok開店“徹底引爆了業(yè)務(wù)”,現(xiàn)在公司90%的業(yè)務(wù)都來自這款應(yīng)用。他說:“如果通過這項(xiàng)法案,你們將摧毀我們的美國夢。” 盡管如此,該法案還是在眾議院順利通過,把壓力甩給了給民主黨領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的參議院。美國總統(tǒng)喬?拜登的競選團(tuán)隊(duì)上月開通了TikTok賬號(hào),不過拜登表示,如果法案提交到他手里,他就會(huì)簽署令其生效。 支持者稱,將該法案等同于禁令是不對的。該法案被稱為《保護(hù)美國人免受外國對手控制應(yīng)用程序侵害法》,法案為總統(tǒng)設(shè)立了一個(gè)框架,通過聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局和其他情報(bào)機(jī)構(gòu)的調(diào)查,可以指認(rèn)某些外國對手控制的社交媒體應(yīng)用程序威脅國家安全。 一旦某款應(yīng)用被視為風(fēng)險(xiǎn)應(yīng)用,將被應(yīng)用商店下架并禁止在網(wǎng)絡(luò)端使用,除非在被指認(rèn)后的 180天內(nèi)切斷與外國控制實(shí)體的聯(lián)系。因?yàn)槁?lián)邦調(diào)查局局長克里斯托弗?雷已指認(rèn)TikTok威脅美國國家安全,除非字節(jié)跳動(dòng)迅速采取行動(dòng)將其剝離,該應(yīng)用或?qū)⒃诿绹唤?/p> (Translated by Debra) |