This Isn’t About TikTok

Tim O’Connor – Center for the Preservation of Humanity – 3/11/2024

This Isn’t About TikTok

Two bills came out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on March 7, 2024. HR 7521 was passed out of committee with a unanimous 50-0 vote. The name of the bill is “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act”. A companion bill was also passed out of the same committee with the same vote on the same day – HR 7520 is titled “Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024”. I am writing this because neither one of these bills is about restricting TikTok from gathering data on Americans – they are about ending free speech in the United States.

HR 7521 was introduced by Republican Mike Gallagher. The bill sounds really good on it’s face. It makes it illegal for any entity deemed a foreign adversary to provide “services to distribute, maintain, or update […] an application […] by means of a marketplace […] through which users within the land or maritime borders of the United States may access, maintain, or update such application.” It also makes it illegal for any entity deemed a foreign adversary to provide “internet hosting services” to allow for the application to still function.

The bill goes on to define what a foreign adversary is:

“(1) CONTROLLED BY A FOREIGN ADVERSARY.—The term “controlled by a foreign adversary” means, with respect to a covered company or other entity, that such company or other entity is—

(A) a foreign person that is domiciled in, is headquartered in, has its principal place of business in, or is organized under the laws of a foreign adversary country;

(B) an entity with respect to which a foreign person or combination of foreign persons described in subparagraph (A) directly or indirectly own at least a 20 percent stake; or

(C) a person subject to the direction or control of a foreign person or entity described in subparagraph (A) or (B).”

Here’s an interesting fact which should have every American questioning HR 7521, Mike Gallagher, and the 50 House members who voted in favor of this. Internet addresses have names assigned so that we do not have to use the numbers of the website. So, for instance, Google.com (itself a company heavily invested in China) can be reached 172.253.63.100. To save us from having to remember the numbers names are assigned. The organization responsible for assigning the names is ICANN.

ICANN is a self-proclaimed technical non-governmental organization which is now infested with non-US board members. Any of these members may be subjected to pressures which cause blacklisting of URL’s and even the refusal to assign names to websites so that only the numbers can be used. The organization is currently searching for a new CEO and president, showing their inability to properly plan for succession. One of their focuses is on China and they have engaged the dictatorial fascists in Beijing to assist the Chinese in spreading their culture through multilateral stakeholder arrangements (more fascism). ICANN intends to do this by destroying any internet privacy under it’s Universal Acceptance model.

Under HR 7521, ICANN itself could be deemed controlled by a foreign adversary. The potential for these events should be attributed to the Barack Hussein Obama administration – itself controlled by a foreign entity called the United Nations – who made sure ICANN was no longer under the US government’s purview.

Further down in HR 7521 is the definition for what a foreign adversary controlled application is. TikTok and it’s parent company ByteDance are listed by name; however, this isn’t about Tik Tok. Section 2(g)(3) reads:

“FOREIGN ADVERSARY CONTROLLED APPLICATION.—The term “foreign adversary controlled application” means a website, desktop application, mobile application, or augmented or immersive technology application that is operated, directly or indirectly (including through a parent company, subsidiary, or affiliate), by— […]

“(B) a covered company that—

(i) is controlled by a foreign adversary; and

(ii) that is determined by the President to present a significant threat to the national security of the United States following the issuance of—

(I) a public notice proposing such determination; and

(II) a public report to Congress, submitted not less than 30 days before such determination, describing the specific national security concern involved and containing a classified annex and a description of what assets would need to be divested to execute a qualified divestiture.”

RT? Gone. Times of India? Gone. Every alternative news source not based in the United States? Gone. Alternative news sources based in the United States not echoing the ‘correct’ narrative? Gone. Apple? Gone. Foreign E-bay vendors, Amazon vendors, and games with servers in foreign nations? Gone. Will Twitter and Facebook be forced to increase it’s government-ordered censorship of feeds getting a little too close to the truth of foreign affairs? Absolutely.

It’s not about TikTok, it’s about censoring anything the government of the United States has deemed incorrect for US citizens to consume from media sources it dislikes. It’s about not only censorship but criminalization of those sources. Fines of $5,000 and $500 dollars per user of such an application will apply to entities dubbed foreign adversaries which violate the provisions described in the second paragraph of my article or if the company in violation of these provisions fails to provide portability of a users account to another platform, respectively.

The United States is claiming the sole dominion to censor what US citizens are permitted to say, access, how we are permitted to communicate, and are particularly concerned about being the only entity which is legally allowed to surveil US citizens for it’s own purposes.

TikTok absolutely creates logs of it’s users. So does every application on the planet. The difference is that the US government can still tell Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg to shadow-ban Alex Jones and Donald Trump and users which post positive remarks about those and other individuals the US government hates. The Chinese fascists in Beijing may or may not be amenable to the United States to follow similar orders to be carried out against US citizens merely for supporting Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign or for sharing information gathered from Infowars.com or Geoengineering.org.

In this regard HR 7521 is absolutely electioneering as well. Mike Gallagher needs to be charged with the crimes he is committing by even drafting the bill especially in light of the illegal, unconstitutional, and highly politically motivated lawfare being waged against Donald Trump which seeks nothing less that what Gallagher has authored for consideration in Congress. If turnabout is fair play then this is a great opportunity to show the democrats what their stupidity and ideologically bankrupt actions portend for themselves and their allies. Additionally, Gallagher is not a legitimate person and his reckless abandon of the US Constitution, which he swore an oath to uphold, stipulates that his actions actually constitute treason…. His hatred of Donald Trump and the idea that Making America Great Again is the agenda of the wicked is not a justification to invalidate the First Amendment protections of American citizens.

Similarly, a New Jersey democrat, Frank Pallone, is the lead sponsor HR 7520. Surprisingly, this bill seems a bit more on point. However, this bill does seek to define what a data broker is which leaves room for the US government to take action against media companies, foreign and domestic, it dislikes. The definition reads:

“(3) DATA BROKER.—

(A) IN GENERAL.—The term “data broker” means an entity that, for valuable consideration, sells, licenses, rents, trades, transfers, releases, discloses, provides access to, or otherwise makes available data of United States individuals, that the entity did not collect directly from such individuals, to another entity that is not acting as a service provider.

(B) EXCLUSION.—The term “data broker” does not include an entity to the extent such entity—

(i) is transmitting data, including communications of a United States individual at the request or direction of such individual;

(ii) is reporting, publishing, or otherwise making available news or information that is available to the general public, including information from a telephone book or online directory, a television, internet, or radio program, the news media, or an internet site that is available to the general public on an unrestricted basis, but not including an obscene visual depiction (as such term is used in section 1460 of title 18, United States Code); or

(iii) is acting as a service provider.”

Any news organization which does not directly collect information, reports on it, and has what it reports seen by the government as not available to the general public – such as anything from an application covered under HR 7521 – will be made illegal. Additionally, if it is determined that the media is releasing sensitive data which includes “Information identifying the sexual behavior of an individual.”, “An individual’s race, color, ethnicity, or religion”, or “ Any information that describes or reveals the past, present, or future physical health, mental health, disability, diagnosis, or healthcare condition or treatment of an individual” the media company could potentially be charged with a violation.

These crimes will be handled by the Federal Trade Commission which will use their new lawfare tactics of not actually allowing defenses to fine violators of the law with up to a $10,000 fine per infraction.

Something along these lines needs to be done – clearly. This is not it. It is clearly a violation of our privacy to have G-d-knows-who in possession of our genetic material. It is a clear violation of our privacy rights to have companies collect and sell our financial data to undisclosed buyers without our consent. The same holds true of “biometric information” and geolocating devices such as our cell phones which have sent geospacial data regarding the movements of everyone with a cell phone to the manufacturer which, in turn, it sells to governments and marketing firms around the world.

What this bill will accomplish is a reduction in free speech just as surely as HR 7521 will. HR 7520 just does it in a more convoluted and backhanded manner. Any media organization which falls into disfavor with a US administration will find themselves classified as a data broker and be subjected to up to a $10,000 fine for each person accessing the media channel’s offerings in whichever country (Eurasia or Eastasia – readers of 1984 are familiar) is currently deemed a foreign adversary.

Both of these bills reek of Senate Bill 686, the RESTRICT Act, which would criminalize all speech the government sees as objectionable. Where Mark Warner (another so-called representative who deserves to be impeached and tried for treason for having offered a bill) went full-bore at decimating the United States Constitution’s protections of free speech HR 7520 and HR 7521 offer to do the same exact thing in a more subdued and sneaky manner.

These bills seek to use the demonization of a foreign controlled entity, TikTok in this instance, and render free speech protections a bygone relic of a United States. The fact that the 1st Amendment even existed to protect speech the US government disliked would be next on the chopping block as the large and growing contingent of tyrannical representatives in Washington would soon pass legislation allowing them to memory hole (another 1984 reference) any reference to what they deemed no longer exists. Soon after that proved to be ineffective at un-educating the public about the 1st Amendment, they would implement Fahrenheit 451 protocols and just burn all the books. Maybe I’m being hyperbolic but, really, where do those who seek to erase history find their resting point? When every reminder of that history is destroyed – including in the minds of men.

And, just so the reader is completely aware, China including Hong Kong, Cuba, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela’s government are listed as foreign adversaries at the moment. These are set by executive order on the advice of the Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo. Terrorist groups like Hamas or Hezbollah are apparently not adversaries; Yemen isn’t seen on the list as it continuously disrupts international shipping lanes; Somalia, South Africa, Mexico, the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, nor the completely corrupt government of Ukraine are listed among US adversaries.

These entities are not listed because the criminals running the regime in the US are not really about combating entities posing a threat to the United States. They look the other way at Somalian pirates. This administration turns a blind eye to the actual apartheid which exists in South Africa. It welcomes invasion-scale forces entering the US through Mexico from origins around the world. It embraces United Nation’s programs to destroy the sovereignty of every nation on earth. This regime has spent it’s entire lifespan shoving stakeholder capitalism and the Fourth Industrial Revolution championed by the WEF down our throats. Ukraine has sucked billions of dollars out of the United States so that the failed and corrupt leaders can lose it while miserably losing a war they should have never gotten themselves into.

Tyrannies cannot survive for very long if the society they are ruling with an iron fist are capable of cobbling together an effective resistance. In the information age, particularly the digital information age, the front line of communication is the ability to use digital platforms to encourage resistance to tyranny. Of course the tyrants want to destroy that ability.

The passage of HR 7520 and HR 7521 should inform the US public of two things. Not a single member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is fit to represent a single person in the United States. And, these House members on this Committee are the tyrants we were warned against by the likes of Thomas Jefferson when he wrote:

“In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”

Just as Jefferson’s July 4, 1776 Declaration was signed by his countrymen declaring their intent to be free of the shackles of Britain for the reasons contained in it, so too is it time for the citizens and States of the United States to declare it is no longer willing to accept the decrees of Washington DC in its current form. It is the form of tyranny. Replacing ‘King of Great Britain’ with Washington DC in the following from the same document is adequate:

“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.”

It should also serve as a call to action. We don’t need to take up arms, we need to declare our intention to peacefully disengage from the federal government. The US citizenry will either do something drastic yet peaceful or these usurpations into our everyday lives will grow so unbearable that taking up arms will seem the only viable manner to get our point across. That point is that we the people send you the government to represent we the people’s interests, not your own. We don’t need arms for that. Let a new declaration be cause for the government to come after us with arms – that is their prerogative should they choose to so engage. The taking up of arms in times of peace by those who merely wish US government entities and representatives to abide by their oaths to the US Constitution will be met with disaster and increased tyranny. That is the opposite of what the United States should want.

It’s important that we read these bills through for what they actually say. These two bills take away free speech – a grave infraction only implemented by tyrants. We need to take heed. We also need to remain calm. And we need to seek the peaceful means of rectifying the situation. If that requires a new declaration of independence from Washington DC, so be it, but let’s do it peacefully! That does not mean do not be ready should the need arise – it means take action while you still can!

Bless G-d and G-d bless.