Posted on 03/28/2023 3:12:21 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Senate Bill 686—the RESTRICT Act—is being promoted as a bipartisan ban on TikTok. In fact, it’s nothing of the sort. Instead, it’s a bipartisan ban by big-government Senators giving the Secretary of Commerce enormous power to punish speech with which a presidential administration disagrees.
Wired explains that the proposed RESTRICT Act comes from the office of Mark Warner (D-VA), and is meant “to take swift action against technology companies suspected of cavorting with foreign governments and spies, to effectively vanish their products from shelves and app stores when the threat they pose gets too big to ignore.” Indeed, as Wired sums up the act, it sounds like a good thing:
His new bill, the Restrict Act, would give that responsibility to the US commerce secretary, charging their office with reviewing and, under certain conditions, banning technologies flagged by US intelligence as a credible threat to US national security.
The currently listed bad governments in the bill are China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela. We can all agree that those are governments that are dangerous to America’s national security. And indeed, given that TikTok, which is currently being given the spotlight to promote passing the Act, is a tool of the Chinese government, why wouldn’t we want to yank it from commerce and the internet airwaves? But it turns out the Act doesn’t really do that. It has a different goal.
Image: TikTok in Jail, made using TikTok Logo (edited) and prison cell image (edited) by Officer Bimblebury (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Any suspicions about the Act’s real purpose begin with that much-vaunted bipartisan support. Any conservative looking at the Republicans supporting it should immediately be suspicious about the bill:
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Most, although not all, of those Republicans are people who surprisingly often seem to find common cause with Democrats rather than with their own party. My rule is that, if Mitt Romney, Tom Tillis, Susan Collins, and Lindsey Graham are for something, I’d be smart to check it out very, very carefully.
Also, the biggest problem of TikTok, is that it started five or six years ago, and his blown right by Instagram. Big tech doesn’t like competition. Simple as that. It has nothing to do with privacy, or rotting your mind. Your data is not private in any way with Facebook or Instagram. They use it as aggressively as TikTok does. The contact is just as corrosive and insidious.
This is an about protecting national security, our children, or your data. It’s about protecting one thing and one thing only. Mark Zuckerberg’s social media companies. And the congressman are earning their pay that they get in Silicon Valley donations.
I saw it last night. What a surprise, I was thinking “well, maybe there is some common ground after all” but Tucker exposed that fantasy. And seeing which republicans are supporting it, it’s definitely a scam.
Too bad. Either way, we the people lose.
2. No major surprises on the list of (cough, cough) Republicans on the list. Two names deserve mentioning...
-- Willard, and ...
-- Grahamnesty
3. Regarding the timing, duplicitous characterization, and hidden aims of the bill...
Democrats - - Deceit is their middle name.
The TikTok Patriot Act.
With that list supporting I say no
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