WASHINGTON — The young voices in the messages left for North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis were laughing, but the words were ominous.
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 has said he would sign the House bill, which overwhelmingly passed 362-65 this month after a rare 50-0 committee vote moving it to the floor.But it’s already running into roadblocks in the Senate, where there is little unanimity on the best approach to ensure that China doesn’t access private data from the app’s 170 million U.S.
Republicans are divided. While most of them support the TikTok legislation, others are wary of overregulation and the government targeting one specific entity. Blumenthal and Blackburn have separate legislation they have been working on for several years aimed at protecting children’s online safety, but the Senate has yet to vote on it. Efforts to regulate online privacy have also stalled, as has legislation to make technology companies more liable for the content they publish.“The Senate will review the legislation when it comes over from the House,” was all he would say after the House passed the bill.
“There will be some areas that we will not try to get into, but there are some areas that we have very broad consensus on,” Rounds says.