Democrat Maria Cantwell Emerges as Key Player in TikTok Fight. Her Former Aides Are Working for the Company.

[Geee]

Free Beacon

A bipartisan group of senators expressed alarm as they emerged from a classified briefing on TikTok on Wednesday. The app, owned and controlled by a Chinese Communist Party-tied company, "is a gun pointed at Americans' heads," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) said. "There was deep concern about the threat of TikTok from both sides of the aisle," Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) added.

 

Cruz called on the Senate to "expeditiously" advance legislation that passed the House earlier this month and would ban TikTok if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, refuses to sell the app within six months.

But one key player in the fight over TikTok disagrees: Sen. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.), the chairwoman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the bill. Unlike so many of her colleagues, Cantwell has sounded less alarmed about the threats posed by the social media app, instead stressing patience and dangling alternative paths forward. :snip: