GOP Sens. Hawley, Paul butt heads over TikTok ban; conservatives sound alarm over RESTRICT Act

by Chris Lange

Chris Lange, FISM News

 

Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) clashed on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon over a possible TikTok ban, underscoring divisions across party lines on how to regulate the controversial app. 

Tempers flared between the two conservative lawmakers when Paul spoke out against Hawley’s motion to run full steam ahead with consideration of his bill to prohibit operation of the social media app in the U.S. and ban commercial activity with TikTok’s CCP-linked parent company, ByteDance.  

“There are two main reasons why we might not want to do this,” Paul said in response to Hawley’s motion. “The one would be the First Amendment to the Constitution. Speech is protected whether you like it or not. The second reason would be that the Constitution actually prohibits bills of attainder,” he said before proffering his objection.

Bills of attainder authorize the government to punish individuals or groups without due process and are prohibited by the Constitution.

“I didn’t realize that the First Amendment contained a right to espionage,” Hawley shot back. The Missouri senator noted that his colleague’s objection marked the first time he had ever heard “a defense of the right to spy” on the Senate floor.

Paul obliquely suggested that Hawley was engaging in fear mongering, stating: “We should beware of people who peddle fear. We should beware of people who peddle half-truths.”

CONSERVATIVES SOUND ALARM OVER EXPANDED GOVT POWERS IN RESTRICT ACT 

Sen. Paul and several conservative pundits have also railed against Republican lawmakers who support the RESTRICT Act. Introduced by Sen. Mark Werner (D-Va.), the bill would grant unprecedented authority to the secretary of commerce to ban TikTok, or any social media app, for that matter.

The Biden administration’s eager approbation of the measure and its scuttled Disinformation Governance Board have undoubtedly fueled conservative wariness. The sound of Democrats’ collective gnashing of teeth over Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover and restoration of free speech to the platform also likely still rings in the ears of constitutional adherents.

“I hope saner minds will reflect on which is more dangerous: videos of teenagers dancing or the precedent of the US government banning speech,” Paul tweeted Wednesday afternoon in reference to the bill. “For me, it’s an easy answer, I will defend the bill of rights against all comers, even, if need be, from members of my own party.”

Fox News’s Tucker Carlson similarly argued:

So you would be allowing the executive branch, the Biden administration, to regulate speech on the internet. And if you are somehow involved with a ‘foreign adversary,’ or let’s say you oppose the war against Russia, you go to prison for 20 years. So this isn’t about banning TikTok. This is about introducing flat-out totalitarianism into our system.”

JESSE WATTERS UPBRAIDS SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM FOR CO-SPONSORING BILL HE DIDN’T READ

Another Fox personality, Jesse Watters, confronted Sen. Lindsey Graham on his support for the RESTRICT Act during an appearance by the South Carolina lawmaker on Wednesday’s installment of “Jesse Watters Primetime.” During an awkward exchange, Graham appeared to be caught off-guard when Watters needled him for co-sponsoring the bill. 

“Did the United States Senate just say we are going to protect you from China by spying on you? Let’s try to get some answers out of Sen. Lindsey Graham who supports this and is here now,” Watters said by way of welcoming Graham to the show. “You have got to be kidding me, Senator. Did you read this?” he demanded.

“I don’t think I support the RESTRICT Act,” Graham told Watters.

“You don’t support this?” Watters asked, “Because you were named as one of the supporters, ‘cause this is garbage.”

“Here’s the problem as I see it. China is the parent company of TikTok and my nieces like TikTok,” Graham said. “I don’t mind them using TikTok. I just don’t want the Chinese government to seize all their data and manipulate the information America sees for political purposes. China is helping drug cartels in Mexico. China is not a friend.”

Watters again pointed out to his guest that his name is listed as one of the bill’s co-sponsors.

“Maybe it’s like Fetterman when your chief of staff does all your work for you,” Watters quipped, referring to the Democratic Pennsylvania Senator who checked himself into Walter Reed for depression on Feb. 15, where he remains as of this reporting.

Hawley’s No TikTok on United States Devices Act would ban the app outright, as opposed to expanding the government’s powers to address national security threats outlined in the RESTRICT Act.

Upward News noted sagaciously that “[t]he federal government has historically used foreign crises to extend its influence.” 

This article was partially informed by The Daily Caller, The Hill, and The Washington Examiner reports.

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