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TikTok's CEO agrees to testify before Congress for the first time in March:
As Congress prepares to vote on a nationwide TikTok ban next month, it looks like that ban may already be doomed to fail. The biggest hurdle likely won't be mustering enough votes, but drafting a ban that doesn't conflict with measures passed in the 1980s to protect the flow of ideas from hostile foreign nations during the Cold War.
These decades-old measures, known as the Berman amendments, were previously invoked by TikTok creators suing to block Donald Trump's attempted TikTok ban in 2020. Now, a spokesperson for Representative Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), the incoming chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Ars that these measures are believed to be the biggest obstacle for lawmakers keen on blocking the app from operating in the United States.
Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported that lawmakers' dilemma in enacting a ban would be finding a way to block TikTok without "shutting down global exchanges of content—or inviting retaliation against US platforms and media." Some lawmakers think that's achievable by creating a narrow carve-out for TikTok in new legislation, but others, like McCaul, think a more permanent solution to protect national security interests long-term would require crafting more durable and thoughtful legislation that would allow for bans of TikTok and all apps beholden to hostile foreign countries.
[...] Back in 1977, Congress passed the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to empower the president to impose sanctions on and oversee trade with hostile nations. The plan was to prevent average American citizens from assisting US enemies, but the law troubled publishers doing business with book authors and movie makers based in hostile nations. Those concerns led Congressman Howard Berman (D-Calif.) to propose an amendment in 1988, which passed, exempting "information and informational materials" from IEEPA and blocking presidents from regulating these materials.
As technology evolved, in 1994, another IEEPA amendment specifically exempted electronic media, leading to today, when everything from a tweet to a TikTok would be free from presidential regulation under the so-called Berman amendments. How this prevents Congress from passing a new law remains unclear, but the WSJ reports that lawmakers are hesitant to draft legislation limiting TikTok if that could threaten those protections.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Thursday February 02 2023, @07:13PM (7 children)
If Congress passed a law, then Congress can rewrite it. The biggest obstacle to banning TikTok is the 1st Amendment. Even that has options. I suspect that the courts might find that exporting data from the country was not protected speech. This would be an extremely bad precedent, but the courts have made worse decisions in the past.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by owl on Thursday February 02 2023, @07:38PM (1 child)
Exactly. Where the author got the idea of: "How this prevents Congress from passing a new law remains unclear" is laughable. No future congress is constrained (if they do not wish to be) by any "laws" passed by any past congress, because they can simply rewrite that past law to their liking today.
So, if these past laws cause a speed bump, that just means the congress critters writing the new bills have more work to do to either write to avoid those old laws, or modify those old laws to remove the obstacle.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday February 02 2023, @09:20PM
I agree with you, and have many times ranted about our do-nothing Congress.
Two factors: it seems they're at odds, fighting, more than ever, but it may be that increased communication (Internet, so many websites, news, blogs, etc.) makes it seem worse than say 50 years ago.
Secondly, they usually know what the President will sign vs. veto, so they spend less time on things they know will get vetoed, unless they're sure they can override the veto.
Sometimes, as we've seen, someone will introduce a bill that's DOA just to get some attention and get people thinking about whatever the issue is.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Thursday February 02 2023, @08:48PM (1 child)
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Leave it to congress to fail within the first five words!
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday February 03 2023, @09:25PM
That's a feature, not a bug.
Have you read the Nooze [nooze.org]?
(Score: 1, Troll) by mcgrew on Friday February 03 2023, @09:23PM (2 children)
The biggest obstacle to banning TikTok is the 1st Amendment.
I don't think the first amendment has anything to do with a Chinese company or the Chinese government they must report to UNDER CHINESE LAW. I'm also not sure if our constitution applies to China, but I don't think it does.
Note: the idea that banning a single foreign app is infringing on Americans' free speech rights is too ludicrous to even be humorous.
Have you read the Nooze [nooze.org]?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by HiThere on Saturday February 04 2023, @12:06AM (1 child)
If the law is passed by the US govt, it definitely DOES apply. The 1st amendment says nothing about who's doing the speaking or what the religion is.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday February 04 2023, @04:25PM
If reason and logic applied to the Supreme Court, they wouldn't have ruled that when the constitution says patents and copyrights are allowed for "limited times" that "limited" means whatever congress says it means, let alone some of its rulings on slavery.
In the late 1800s, Asians weren't even allowed on US soil, so how can you know that SCOTUS will say they have the same rights as American citizens?
Have you read the Nooze [nooze.org]?