Democratic Senator Mark Warner, the main sponsor of the RESTRICT law targeting TikTok and other possible national security risks in technology, told CNN that Thursday’s House hearing with TikTok executives will help their project. of law to progress.
“I think after today’s hearing, especially on the Republican side of the House, there will be additional conversations,” Warner said.
He added, “I think there is a lot of interest from Senate leadership. I think we also need to show a broad bipartisan effort from the House.
Leading Republican co-sponsor Senator John Thune said they didn’t have a “definitive” timeline from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in a floor vote, though ” he is interested in seeing it move forward”.
Warner pointed out that concern about TikTok’s national security risks “is one of the areas that’s really bipartisan, and there’s interest from both the House and the Senate.”
However, Warner and Thune acknowledged that they have encountered backlash from TikTok creators and those who want to ban the app immediately.
“There are people who don’t want to hear about national security issues, and there are clearly a lot of people who are taking advantage of that as social influencers. I think the market will provide them with another venue, another app,” Warner said.
Thune said: “There are obviously people who want to do something immediately and ban TikTok right away, which frankly would be fine with me too. But it was tried, and it was rejected by the court.
“I just think that in terms of getting a solution here, and getting a solution in place quickly, our legislation represents the best possible way to do that,” he added.
Cnn
