McConnell Urges Senate Action on ByteDance Divestment of TikTok

Requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok is constitutional and would help block Chinese efforts to control U.S. communications networks, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Monday on the Senate floor. Similarly, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., last week said the upper chamber has an opportunity to make progress on bipartisan TikTok-related legislation (see 2404050050). In his speech, McConnell rejected First Amendment arguments against the House-passed divestment proposal. McConnell quoted FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr: “You can use a pen to write salacious anti-American propaganda, and the government can’t censor that content. Nor can it stop Americans from seeking such messages out. But if you use the same pen to pick a lock to steal someone else’s property, the government could prosecute you for illegal conduct.” China “has spent years trying to pick the lock of America’s communications infrastructure,” said McConnell: “This is a matter that deserves Congress’ urgent attention. And I’ll support commonsense, bipartisan steps to take one of Beijing’s favorite tools of coercion and espionage off the table.”