Did You Hear About the Sweeping New Presidential Powers in the TikTok 'Ban' Bill?

As written, any “website, desktop application, mobile application, or augmented or immersive technology application” that is “determined by the President to present a significant threat to the National Security of the United States” is covered.

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Currently, the definition of “foreign adversary” includes Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China.

The definition of “controlled,” meanwhile, turns out to be a word salad ...

A “foreign adversary controlled application,” in other words, can be any company founded or run by someone living at the wrong foreign address, or containing a small minority ownership stake. Or it can be any company run by someone “subject to the direction” of either of those entities. Or, it’s anything the president says it is. Vague enough?

Ed Morrissey

I had a sneaking suspicion that Congress was trying to set a larger precedent, which is why I warned about the bill yesterday. It's a PATRIOT Act for social media, and it follows on the heels of the exposure of the Big Tech-Gov't Big Brother Operation that suppressed dissent and silenced criticism of the government during the pandemic, including the silencing of the New York Post on Twitter. The only reason we know the scope of that operation is because Elon Musk spent $44 billion of his own money to buy Twitter and expose it.

With this power in hand, now government can stop any exposure in the future. 

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