The Senate is often a key stumbling block in Washington's efforts to confront Big Tech. The question now is whether that will change as the Senate considers TikTok's fate in the United States.
A possible ban on popular social media apps is at the top of the Senate's agenda as lawmakers return to the capital this week. This comes after the House of Representatives voted 352-65 to advance a bill that would force TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban in the United States. It was done.
The Senate has served as a red light over the past few years for other technology reforms that have seen bipartisan enthusiasm in the House, including data privacy efforts and efforts to bar tech giants from giving preferential treatment to their products.
“The Senate is very likely to be a graveyard for this issue,” Mark McCarthy of the Brookings Institution and Georgetown University said in an interview about whether the TikTok bill fits a similar pattern.
“We're starting to see some buyer remorse for not taking action quickly.”
The signal from the Senate so far is that if there is any movement, it will be slow. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has not yet taken a stance, saying only that the Senate will consider the bill once it is formally introduced.
While the bipartisan energy behind any effort to counter China could overwhelm efforts to delay the bill, there are also serious legal issues that senators don't want to overlook.
First, the bill's decision to specifically name TikTok will almost certainly be challenged in court. There are also broader concerns that it could be challenged for stripping U.S. users of their First Amendment rights.
“I don't know how we can change this,” McCarthy said of free speech concerns. “That's the heart of this bill.”
Washington's supposed “cooling disk”
Of course, technology isn't the only issue on which the Senate is playing a role in tempering enthusiasm elsewhere in Washington.
It goes back to the beginning. George Washington reportedly said that the Senate was created to “cool” House bills, just as a saucer is used to cool hot tea. In a more recent example, a bipartisan tax bill passed overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives in January, but has not yet been considered in the Senate.
However, the pattern has been particularly evident in technology in recent years. Some activists accused the senators, particularly Mr. Schumer, of being too accommodating to CEOs' opposition.
One example of this happened in 2022, when a bill was about to be passed aimed at stopping companies from favoring their products over their competitors. After intense lobbying by CEOs of big tech companies, the bill failed to get a vote in the Senate as leaders like Schumer questioned whether it had the votes to pass. Ta.
Another episode occurred in 2023. Privacy was the hot topic in technology at the time, with the Biden administration and members of Congress pushing for action on a bipartisan bill called the American Data Privacy Protection Act. The bill has not yet been considered after concerns were raised in the Senate and elsewhere.
In addition to Schumer, the fate of the TikTok bill could also rest in the hands of Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat who chairs the influential Senate Commerce Committee.
She's only been slightly more aggressive than Schumer so far. Although he applauded the idea of tackling the issue, he did not sound like he supported the House's approach, saying in part, “I have spoken with my colleagues in the Senate and House to ensure that we are doing what is constitutional and appropriate.'' “We will try to find a way forward.” Protect civil liberties. ”
And TikTok itself clearly sees the Senate as a key battleground, with CEO Shou Zi Chew focusing on lobbying senators.in recent videoshe urged his 170 million American users to share their concerns with their friends and family, and also to “share them with your senators.”
He also said in the video that the company is considering its legal options.
The confusing politics surrounding TikTok
Compared to previous technology battles, this time different alliances further complicate the path forward.
Some advocates, who are still pushing for last year's privacy efforts and are deeply critical of the Senate's role in them, oppose taking action against TikTok.
In one recent example, the left-wing group More Perfect Union, while opposing a ban on TikTok, renewed its call for a privacy bill to be passed.that mentioned in the video on this issue “The only place TikTok has a real chance is in the Senate.”
And recently, former President Donald Trump has made a reversal of the issue.
Although he has been pushing for a ban on TikTok for years, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate has spoken out against the bill in several recent Truth Social posts, saying that eliminating TikTok would be a challenge to Mark Zuckerberg. said it would help. President Trump called Facebook (META) “the true enemy of the people!”
House Republicans largely ignored President Trump's position and voted in favor of the bill by a 197-15 margin, but the former president's points about the side effects of banning TikTok are echoed by other members of Congress.
In a recent appearance on Yahoo Finance Live, Jefferies senior analyst Brent Till said of TikTok, “If it gets shut down, the place you'll probably go is YouTube, advertisers will flip out, Google (GOOG) There is a potential for benefits.” . ” Facebook and Pinterest (PINS) could also help, he added.
The House bill has also gained support from two key senators in recent days, with Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner and top Republican Marco Rubio pledging support, and the Observers say the bill still has a strong chance of passing.
Ultimately, Washington and the tech industry are waiting to see what the Senate leadership will do. McCarthy said Schumer is now focused on understanding where his Democratic colleagues stand.
“And I think that's the right job for a majority leader,” he said.
Ben Werschkul is Yahoo Finance's Washington correspondent.
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