Cantwell
On April 15, Beijing time, the TikTok stripping bill of the U.S. House of Representatives has now been transferred to the Senate. Now, TikTok's first hurdle is the Senate Commerce Committee, which will be tested by a ruthless character: Chairwoman Maria Cantwell.
Last month, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to pass the TikTok divestiture bill, forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok in the U.S. or the app would be taken off the shelves. Right now, TikTok's supporters and critics alike believe that Cantwell is crucial to TikTok's fortunes.
Ms. Cantwell, 65, has served four terms as a Washington state senator, and her work is known for being thoughtful and time-consuming. Canterwell has extensive experience dealing with technology legislation, but her past approach to user privacy and social media issues has also frustrated her colleagues.
Who is Cantwell?
Cantwell has an extensive track record in politics and technology. She grew up in Indianapolis and moved to Seattle in 1984 to work for the presidential campaign of Democrat Alan Cranston. Cranston lost, but Cantwell stayed.
Subsequently, she was elected to the Washington State Assembly and won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992. There, she faced her first big battle: successfully banning the so-called "Clipper Chip," the Clinton administration's plan to build surveillance into PCs. In 1994, the Republican Party's sweeping victory in Washington led to a temporary exit from Cantwell's political career and into the private sector, where he served as vice president of marketing at RealNetworks, a pioneer in networked audio and video services.
She helped RealNetworks survive the first wave of tech privacy crises that erupted in the late '90s. At the time, it was discovered that RealNetworks had access to users' personal information and what they were listening to. In 2000, she was recruited to run for the Senate, spending more than $1 million out of her own pocket in the primary. Data privacy issues have played a central role in this campaign.
Cantwell was sheltered by Kennedy
In her office in Canterwell, she displays photographs of her hometown and a photo of herself and the late Senator Edward Kennedy. Kennedy, a liberal Democrat who played a central role in legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, took Cantwell under his patronage. He would invite Cantwell to his office, where he would invite experts to discuss policy.
"When I'm frustrated, I look at that picture," she said, holding it up, "and it's reminding me that, yes, legislation is hard, it takes time, and you have to stick to it." ”
How to deal with the TikTok bill?
For now, she and other Senate leaders have been tight-lipped about their plans. With fears that the divestiture, which passed smoothly in the House of Representatives, could reach an impasse in the Senate, Cantwell is under pressure to amend the bill relatively quickly.
Mr. Cantwell said she wanted both an end to Chinese companies' control of TikTok and such legislation standing up to scrutiny in court. However, the Democratic powerwoman said in an interview in her Senate office that the content of the stripping bill and how quickly it could reach President Biden's desk is still up for debate.
In the interview, she listed the problems she faced. "Do we want a tool that allows the U.S. to stop the bad guys from spreading evil messages to the U.S.? The answer is yes, we want that tool to exist," Mr. Cantwell said, "so the question now is: Is the House tool good enough, do we need to do something about it?"
Cantwell (C)
Asked when the divestiture bill would be voted on, Cantwell said "sooner rather than later, because she thinks the bill will move forward". The bill must reach President Biden's desk this year or it will expire, but supporters hope the Senate will move sooner. Cantwell said: "We have some avenues to get this done in a short period of time. ”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, has voiced his support for the House stripping bill, as have prominent Democrats such as Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, chairman of the Intelligence Committee. Other MPs, however, are more cautious. Cantwell said senators have been reviewing the text of the House bill to determine whether it is constitutional and can withstand anticipated court challenges.
Act "Graveyard"
However, some TikTok critics have expressed concern about the Senate Commerce Committee led by Cantwell, and are concerned that extending Senate consideration could lead to the bill's failure.
"Historically, the Commerce Commission has been the place to put these bills to a finish. Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, said he had called for TikTok to be banned.
Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Republican of West Virginia, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, said, "I'm disappointed with the Commerce Committee because we can't seem to address these big issues. There are a lot of things that are not progressing. She cited data privacy and TikTok's work as an example.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat of New York, expressed confidence in Cantwell. Schumer has said he plans to meet with Cantwell last week to discuss the TikTok divestment bill.
Schumer backed Cantwell
"I have a lot of confidence in her because she has a great resume. Schumer said he was referring to the key role that Cantwell played in the CHIPS Act. The bill was passed in 2022 and aims to revitalize the U.S. semiconductor industry.
Schumer did not say when he wanted to send TikTok's divestiture bill to the full Senate. One way he might do this is to attach the TikTok bill to the Federal Aviation Administration's reauthorization bill, which has a deadline of May 10. These bills, which must be passed, often become tools for other legislation to move forward.
A senior Democratic aide said the Senate is considering using the House bill as the basis for its bill, rather than reinstating TikTok-related bills previously introduced by the Senate. He said mentioning TikTok's name in the bill raises legal questions, and the bill is likely to withstand a court challenge because it has a "forward-looking objective" to stop potential espionage against Americans.
Extension of deadlines
One of the things that Cantwell wants to change about the House of Representatives' divestiture bill is the divestiture deadline. The House bill would require ByteDance to divest TikTok in about six months or face it being taken off the shelves. Critics of the House bill, such as Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, say such a short deadline would create a low-price fire sale that would unfairly hurt investors. Some Americans, including former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, have expressed interest in forming a consortium of investors to buy TikTok's U.S. business.
Extending the deadline, Cantwell said, could "give you the ability to actually close a deal, and a lot of time that won't bring stability, but it will help you find the right divestiture bill".
She noted that she doesn't believe the House's TikTok bill violates the Constitution's First Amendment protections for speech, another concern raised by some lawmakers.
Cantwell believes the TikTok divestiture bill is one of several tech-focused pieces of legislation that could be passed this year. Earlier this month, she released a draft comprehensive data privacy bill with Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, also from Washington state.
TikTok CEO周受资
Privacy legislation has stalled for years. In 2022, Rogers' bipartisan bill passed her committee and was supported by Republican Senator Roger Wicker, but was opposed by Cantwell on how victims could take legal action. Democratic lawmakers and their aides have pointed to Cantwell as the reason why they have not come close to putting the bill to a vote. Cantwell said legislation takes time and she hopes to introduce a new privacy bill this week.
"She both supports technology and wants to control it," said David Vladeck, a former director of the Consumer Protection Bureau at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and an adviser to Mr. Cantwell. "She has disagreements with a number of platforms, including some in her state. ”
According to OpenSecrets, many of Canterwell's top donors are individuals from tech companies headquartered or headquartered in Washington state, including T-Mobile, Microsoft and Amazon. She does not accept funding from corporate political action committees.
TikTok has responded that the divestiture bill amounts to a ban and that the company has never been asked to provide U.S. user data. ByteDance also said it would not sell TikTok.
[Source: Phoenix Technology]