CNN's Laura Coates speaks with Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, about online privacy and Congress' pending legislation that could lead to a ban of TikTok.
WASHINGTON — The young voices in the messages left for North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis were laughing, but the words were ominous.
"OK, listen, if you ban TikTok I will find you and shoot you," one said, giggling and talking over other young voices in the background. "I'll shoot you and find you and cut you into pieces." Another threatened to kill Tillis, and then take their own life.
Tillis's office claims it received roughly 1,000 calls about TikTok since the House passed legislation this month that would ban the popular app if its China-based owner doesn't sell its stake. TikTok urged its users — many of whom are young — to call their representatives, even providing an easy link to the phone numbers.
Tillis, who supports the House bill, reported the call to the police.
"What I hated about that was it demonstrates the enormous influence social media platforms have on young people," he said in an interview.
TikTok's extensive lobbying campaign is the latest attempt by the tech industry to head off new legislation — and it's a fight the industry usually wins.
For years, Congress failed to act on bills that would protect users' privacy, protect children from online threats, make companies more liable for their content and put loose guardrails around artificial intelligence, among other things.
"I mean, it's almost embarrassing," said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., a former tech executive who also supports the TikTok bill and has long tried to push his colleagues to regulate the industry. "I would hate for us to maintain our perfect zero batting average on tech legislation."
Some see the TikTok bill as the best chance for now to regulate the tech industry and set a precedent, if a narrow one focused on just one company. President Joe Biden says he would sign the House bill, which overwhelmingly passed 362-65 this month.
But it's already running into roadblocks in the Senate, where there is little unanimity.
Other factors are holding the Senate back. The tech industry is broad and falls under the jurisdiction of several different committees. Plus, the issues at play don't fall cleanly on partisan lines, making it harder for lawmakers to agree on priorities and how legislation should be written.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., has so far been reluctant to embrace the TikTok bill, for example, calling for hearings first and suggesting that the Senate may want to rewrite it.
"We're going through a process," Cantwell said. "It's important to get it right."
Warner, on the other hand, says the House bill is the best chance to get something done after years of inaction.
Some lawmakers are worried that blocking TikTok could anger millions of young people who use the app, a crucial segment of voters in November's election. But Warner says "the debate has shifted" from talk of an outright ban a year ago to the House bill which would force TikTok, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd., to sell its stake for the app to continue operating.
Vice President Kamala Harris, in a television interview that aired Sunday, acknowledged the popularity of the app and that it has become an income stream for many people. She said the administration does not intend to ban TikTok but instead deal with its ownership.
"We understand its purpose and its utility and the enjoyment that it gives a lot of folks," Harris told ABC's "This Week."
Republicans are divided. While most of them support the TikTok legislation, others are wary of overregulation and the government targeting one specific entity.
"The passage of the House TikTok ban is not just a misguided overreach; it's a draconian measure that stifles free expression, tramples constitutional rights, and disrupts the economic pursuits of millions of Americans," Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul posted social media.
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