A group of bipartisan lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a bill that would ban TikTok in the U.S., a move that comes after several state legislators pushed to prohibit the social media platform in their respective states.
Meanwhile, the former NSA head warned that Russia will likely continue using cyberattacks against Ukraine before using nuclear weapons as it fears that the latter could escalate the war.
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Lawmakers push for a TikTok ban
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced legislation that would prohibit the use of Chinese-based owner Byte Dance’s TikTok social media platform in the U.S.
The Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship, and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act, also referred to as the ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act, would protect Americans against using Russian or Chinese-based social media companies by blocking and prohibiting all transactions from those ventures.
- The bill was introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), citing the FBI and FCC’s latest concerns about the social media platforms being used to spy on Americans.
- “The federal government has yet to take a single meaningful action to protect American users from the threat of TikTok. This isn’t about creative videos — this is about an app that is collecting data on tens of millions of American children and adults every day,” Rubio said in a statement
The legislation comes as Washington has had a rocky relationship with TikTok over the past year with the then-Trump administration’s failed attempt to implement a ban on the social media platform in 2020.
Ex-US cyber chief: Putin to pick cyber before nuclear
Retired Gen. Keith Alexander, the former National Security Agency director and head of U.S. Cyber Command, said on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to continue using cyberattacks against Ukraine before using nuclear weapons.
Alexander explained that although Russia hasn’t done significant damage so far on the cyber front, Putin is not prepared to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine, as he knows that could pull the U.S. and other NATO countries into the war.
- “I think he will use [cyber] clearly before nuclear,” Alexander said.
- “If he uses nuclear, he’s dead,” he said, adding that “if [Putin] uses the nuclear option, I believe that will cause NATO to rethink [whether] they’re in or out…I think [Putin] recognizes that and I think the administration made that clear.”
FAUCI: TWITTER ‘A CESSPOOL OF MISINFORMATION’
President Biden’s chief medical adviser, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, brushed aside criticism from Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, who has drawn widespread criticism with comments on policies on the platform.
“I don’t pay attention to that,” Fauci said during an appearance on Andrea Mitchell’s daytime show on MSNBC when asked about Musk. “I mean, yeah, he has a big megaphone, but, I mean, the Twittersphere as it is has really gone berserk lately. It’s kind of become almost a cesspool of misinformation.”
- Musk on Sunday, in a tweet, called to prosecute Fauci, who has emerged as a target of right-wing outrage during the coronavirus pandemic…
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