Grandpa, please don't ban TikTok

WASHINGTON – Last night, Congress took the extraordinary step of passing legislation to force TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company to sell it, or face an effective ban in the United States.

The policy agitated many of the app’s young users, who showed up on Capitol Hill – alongside actual lobbyists – to push lawmakers to reject it.

But for some of those lawmakers, the debate was even closer to home as they grappled with questions from their kids and grandchildren.

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., said his four teenagers use it, which is “something I’m not proud of or comfortable with, per se.”

“They actually get a fair amount of consumer value out of it in terms of interaction with their friends, social interaction, knowing what’s happening, which can’t be undervalued if you’re a teenager,” he said.

“But I try and explain to them that’s separate and apart from the national security considerations that we’re having to weigh. They understand that.”

When the subject first came up in Congress, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., recalled his 12-year-old granddaughter texting him: “Grandpa, can you vote for TikTok to not get banned?”

He assured her they would take more time to look at the House’s proposal.

Reassuring (or not) young people

Weeks later, the vast majority of lawmakers in both parties and both chambers of Congress supported the measure, arguing TikTok’s parent company poses a national security risk.

Informed by Biden administration intelligence briefings, they have raised concerns about the possibility of the Chinese government spying on Americans and spreading propaganda through the app.

President Joe Biden has said he’ll sign the legislation, which is tucked into a $95 billion foreign aid package to support Ukraine, Israel, and allies in the Indo-Pacific.

Biden and the bill’s proponents in Congress argue that it is not a ban, but would force TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell it to a company that has more reliable data privacy rules.

That hasn’t been very reassuring for many of the young people that make up TikTok’s 170 million American users, including influencers who have publicly slammed lawmakers for supporting the bill.

But members who spoke with USA TODAY said their family members understood when they explained the risks.

“They don’t want TikTok to go away,” said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who has around two dozen grandchildren.

“But what I tell them is it’s not going to go away, it’s just going to get owned by an American company. They’re pleased as punch.”

'Oh, that's cool'

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., quipped last month that he’s spent hundreds on Drunk Elephant skincare products for his teenage daughter because of viral videos on the app – so if he wanted to ban TikTok, he would have done it at home.

“She doesn’t follow it as closely” anymore because TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew “took the advice to just chill out and not blast messages to 170 million people,” Fetterman said, referencing a flood of calls lawmakers received last month when TikTok prompted users to contact congressional offices.

“I said, this is going to pass and no one is trying to ban TikTok,” Fetterman said Tuesday. “You don’t have to worry about these things. She’s like, ‘oh, that’s cool.’”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said TikTok’s early push to get users involved led one young woman to leave a voicemail at his office saying: “I’ll shoot you and find you and cut you into pieces.”

He said he’s had discussions about the app with young people in his life, including that young woman and her parents.

“There’s a lot of misinformation going on here,” he said.

“We’re not shutting down TikTok. TikTok creates too much value to think that it would just disappear. What we’re talking about is ownership governance. When I explain that to young people they look at me like I have a horn growing out of my head, but their parents understand – and that’s good enough for me.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: TikTok pressure campaign hit close to home for some lawmakers