[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 64 (Wednesday, April 9, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2496-S2497]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Unanimous Consent Request--S. 103
Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I rise today to lawfully extend the
deadline by which ByteDance must either divest TikTok or face a ban in
the United States.
In a few moments, I will ask unanimous consent to pass my legislation
with Senator Wyden, Senator Van Hollen, and Senator Booker, the Extend
the TikTok Deadline Act, to extend the divestment deadline until
October.
My colleagues may be wondering: Didn't President Trump just extend
the TikTok deadline last week by 75 days? Why are we passing
legislation to do the same thing? Well, it is because we need
legislation because President Trump's move was illegal, both the first
time he extended the deadline in January and his second extension last
Friday.
Although the statute permits the President to extend the TikTok
deadline by 90 days if certain conditions are met, President Trump
never triggered that provision in the statute. Instead, he twice issued
Executive orders that directed the Department of Justice to not enforce
the law for 75 days. Nothing in the statute permits President Trump to
simply not enforce Federal law.
By Trump's logic, he could negate any statute enacted by Congress by
simply directing his administration to not enforce it. That is not how
our system of government actually works. It is lawless, and it is
dangerous.
Beyond being an affront to the rule of law, these Executive orders
are also unfair to TikTok's 170 million creators and users and the 7
million small businesses that rely on the platform to reach their
customers.
By lawlessly extending the TikTok divestment deadline, Trump has
effectively put the fate of TikTok in the hands of risk-averse
corporate shareholders at major technology companies like Oracle and
Apple and Google. That is because the TikTok ban imposes up to $800
billion in fines for companies like Oracle and Apple and Google that
help keep TikTok online and distribute the app through their app
stores.
Trump's lawless extension puts these companies in a difficult spot.
They can comply with the law--take TikTok offline and face the wrath of
Trump and the public--or they can violate the law--leave TikTok up and
risk ruinous legal liability.
So far, the tech companies have been willing to risk that liability
based on promises from President Trump that he won't punish them. But
we all know that President Trump's promises aren't worth a whole lot.
The President could reverse course at any moment or threaten to rescind
his Executive order to coerce these companies into supporting unrelated
political objectives. No good comes from giving any President that kind
of leverage.
So while TikTok remains online today, these unilateral illegal
extensions are unfair to TikTok's users and dangerous for our country.
So here is the thing: I actually agree with the President on
extending the TikTok divestment deadline. There was no reason that
TikTok should have gone dark in January, just a couple of days after
the Supreme Court ruled on the law.
Clearly, the Supreme Court had only 2 days left to resolve all of the
national security issues, all of the other issues that were surrounding
this issue. It wasn't TikTok or anyone else's fault that it took all
the way up until to 2 days before the deadline to have TikTok get an
answer as to whether or not what was happening was constitutional. So
we needed more time to have a negotiation over whether or not those
national security issues and other issues could be resolved.
It is now, ultimately, again, a decision that has to be made as to
whether or not TikTok should have gone dark last week as rumors swirled
about potential new investors in TikTok's U.S. business.
We don't need to find a lawful solution; it is imperative that we
find a lawful solution. That is why I am bringing my legislation out
here. That will protect free speech rights of TikTok's 170 million
users and will also give us some time to be able to negotiate an end.
I want national security issues to be the central part of this
negotiation, and I believe such a solution is possible. But unlawful,
ad hoc extensions only sow chaos for the tech companies facing ruinous
penalties and for the millions of Americans who rely on TikTok as a
vital communications platform.
Instead, Congress should pass my legislation, the Extend the TikTok
Deadline Act, to lawfully extend the divestment deadline until October,
creating legal certainty for TikTok's users and creators and giving all
parties a longer period to reach a solution.
So, Mr. President, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding
rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation be discharged from further consideration of
S. 103, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; further,
that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and the
motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection?
The Senator from Arkansas.
Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, reserving the right to object because I do
object to this effort and will object to future efforts to change the
TikTok law.
Let's remember how we got here. TikTok is a Chinese communist spy app
and a tool of Chinese communist propaganda. That is why Congress passed
an overwhelmingly bipartisan law mandating that TikTok's parent company
sell it if TikTok is to continue operating in America.
Why did Congress pass this law? Because TikTok is not just another
social media platform. TikTok addicts our kids, harvests their data,
exposes them to pedophiles, and promotes harmful and manipulative
content, including vile, anti-Semitic videos.
TikTok also silences, censors, and suppresses content that exposes
communist China for what it really is--a monstrous tyranny. The truth
about China's genocide against the Tibet and Uighur people, the
massacre at Tiananmen Square, the crackdown on Hong Kong, the origins
of COVID, and more are all disappeared behind the veil of TikTok's
algorithm.
What TikTok doesn't say is only part of the problem. What it does say
is deadly.
The Chinese version of TikTok tells kids to study hard, eat their
vegetables, and revere their dictator, Xi Jinping. But the American
version of TikTok exposes our kids to videos that glamorize and glorify
violence, obscenity, eating disorders, drug use, and even suicide.
TikTok's lethal algorithm has, without question, cost the lives of
too many Americans. That is why TikTok is so dangerous, and that is why
Congress insisted that TikTok cut ties entirely with communist China.
President Trump is trying to implement the law that Congress passed,
and many American businesses and investors are, apparently, interested
in buying TikTok.
I applaud patriotic Americans who want to buy this app and cut all
ties with the Chinese communists. But reports have surfaced that some
businesses and investors want a bad deal that would violate the law by
letting communist China continue to influence the TikTok algorithm.
Even worse, these potential buyers may ask Congress to somehow
indemnify them for violating the law or immunize them for TikTok's past
crimes against and injuries to the American people, especially young
Americans.
Let me say bluntly to any American who wants to invest in some half-
ass TikTok deal: Congress will never protect you from going into
business with communist China.
So American businesses and investors who want to dip their beaks in
the golden TikTok fountain should think twice before giving their money
and their good name to Chinese communists. If the TikTok deal maintains
any operational relationship with China, you will be stuck with the
consequences. Caveat emptor.
So I do oppose this effort to change the law, and I will oppose, in
the future, other efforts to change the law that Congress already
passed. Let's allow President Trump to negotiate and see if communist
China is willing to make a deal. If not, then the law is the law.
[[Page S2497]]
Now I will yield to my colleague from Nebraska.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
Mr. RICKETTS. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I echo my
colleague from Arkansas' comments with regard to TikTok.
Let's recall that in communist China, there really isn't such a thing
as a private company, as much as ByteDance might want to say it is.
The Chinese communist law is very clear that companies in China have
to do what they are told to do by the Chinese Communist Party, and that
is one of the reasons TikTok is so dangerous.
TikTok, as has been covered by my colleague from Massachusetts,
reaches 170 million people; 52 percent of those people say that they
regularly get their news from TikTok.
As I have risen on this floor in the past, I have discussed specific
cases where the Chinese communists have been pushing their propaganda
through TikTok.
Now, let's also bear in mind that we would not allow any American TV,
news station--even newspaper--to be able to own as much of the American
marketplace as TikTok has today--170 million people. Current law says
that you can only own 39 percent, for example, of the TV marketplace
across the country. That would roughly equate to about 50 million
households in the United States--far above what we are seeing here with
what TikTok has access to. So if we are not going to allow Americans to
be able to have such broad access to our population, why on Earth would
we allow the Chinese Communist Party to do it? And by the way, the
Chinese Communist Party has no First Amendment rights in this country.
ByteDance was given 270 days to make a deal. The Communist dictator
Xi Jinping clearly did not want it. They tried to lobby us. They
avoided getting a deal done. President Trump came into office. They are
still avoiding getting a deal done.
The people who are taking on the liability here are the companies
that are the facilitators. I urge those companies to reconsider. You
should think carefully about what you are doing. The law is very clear.
TikTok needs to be sold to an American owner to continue operation, not
some half-baked plan, as my colleague from Arkansas was describing,
where the Chinese Communist Party would still have influence on the
TikTok algorithm, still have the ability to push their propaganda to
the American people. That cannot happen. We need to make sure that the
Chinese Communist Party cannot do that in our country.
Again, we won't allow other TV or radio stations to have that much
access. Why on Earth are we doing it with the Chinese Communist Party?
It is absolutely ludicrous.
We need to keep the pressure on. We need to make sure that TikTok is
sold. I echo my colleague's comments with regard to any sort of future
Chinese ownership that would allow them to be able to continue to do
this. We need to make sure this is no longer going to threaten our
young people.
Therefore, Mr. President, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I just want to reiterate what I said in my
remarks--that ByteDance ownership in TikTok does create national
security risks--but I also agree with my colleague. We just spoke. My
colleague who just spoke said: Let's allow the President to continue to
negotiate. Well, that is what my legislation does. It says that the
President has out until October to negotiate a resolution that solves
the national security-related issues. That time is needed because, in
response to my colleague who said that he doesn't want a half-baked
solution--well, that is what would happen if there was a rush to try to
negotiate. So we need to give the President the legal space, passed by
the Senate and the House, to be able to negotiate. That is all I am
asking for.
What the President is doing right now is illegally extending the
time, creating a cloud of legal jeopardy over all of the American
companies which deal with TikTok right now.
So I think what I heard my colleague say was that they want to allow
President Trump to negotiate, and that is what I am saying, except I am
saying let's do it with the Senate having passed the legislation that
gives him the time to do it in a very deliberate way so that the answer
is not half-baked and that ultimately we can get to a resolution of
this issue.
I will also note, by the way, that in a filing at the U.S. circuit
court of appeals, that the intelligence community did, in fact, say
that they have no information that the Chinese Government has, in fact,
compromised this information that can be used against the United States
at this point in time.
I would also add that I do agree with my colleague when he says that
TikTok does prey upon young people, does contribute to mental health
issues, especially amongst the teenagers and children in our society.
But so does YouTube and so does Facebook and so does every one of the
American sites.
So if we want to deal with the problem of social media creating
problems for young people in our society, let's pass a law. Let's pass
a tough law. That is the law that I have been able to get out of the
Senate Commerce Committee. It is a tough law. It is the Child Online
Privacy Protection Act, up to the age of 16, and it says to companies:
If the parents want this, you have to delete any information you have
gathered about the child. It says: You can't target a teenager or a
child with ads.
Let's pass that law on the Senate floor, not just for TikTok but for
the American companies as well, which invented this targeting of
children. That was invented here, the targeting of children, exploiting
of teenagers, causing this mental health crisis in our Nation.
So it is time for us to, in my opinion, pass the legislation that has
been objected to by my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle
so that the President has the time to negotiate with the Chinese, with
TikTok, about the national security issues, so that there is a
divestment that does work and provides real security for Americans.
But the next issue arises immediately because even if there is a
divestment, that TikTok that is then American-owned, theoretically, is
going to be targeting teenagers and children just the same way that
every other American social media company does. Where is the concern
about that? I hear it, but I don't hear any legislation coming out here
on the floor from the Republican leadership to deal with the crisis,
which everyone knows is front and center in our society right now.
So I think this debate really gives us a great opportunity to have a
wider conversation about all of the impact social media is having upon
our society.
With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.